Do you still need AMP pages? The answer for UK businesses

Key takeaways

Do I need AMP? No, not for a business website. Accelerated Mobile Pages was a framework Google once required for its mobile Top Stories carousel. That requirement ended with the page experience update in 2021. A fast responsive page now qualifies for everything an AMP page does, with one version to maintain instead of two.

• AMP is a stripped-down page format launched in 2015 to make mobile pages load quickly.
• Since 2021, Google no longer requires AMP for the Top Stories carousel.
• Google applies the same standard to all pages, whatever technology built them.
• If you have AMP today, you can remove it safely with redirects.

What is AMP?

AMP, originally Accelerated Mobile Pages, is an open-source web framework that restricts what a page can contain so that it loads very quickly on phones. An AMP page is a second, simplified version of a normal page, often served from Google's cache, with limits on scripts, styles and layout.

It was launched in 2015, when many mobile pages were painfully slow, and it worked. The cost was complexity: two versions of each page, reduced design freedom, analytics that needed separate set-up and, for a time, Google's address appearing in the browser instead of yours.

• Why mobile-friendly web design is essential for UK businesses

Why did businesses adopt AMP in the first place?

Mostly because Google rewarded it. News publishers needed AMP to appear in the Top Stories carousel on mobile, and AMP pages carried a lightning-bolt badge in results. Plugins made it easy to switch on for a WordPress blog, so many small business sites enabled it without a specific reason.

The speed benefit was real but not exclusive. AMP was fast because it banned the things that make pages slow. A normal page that avoids those things is just as fast, which is the idea behind Core Web Vitals.

What changed in 2021?

Google removed AMP's special treatment. With the page experience update, rolled out from mid-June 2021, the Top Stories carousel was opened to all news content regardless of format, and the AMP badge was dropped from results. From then on, a page's eligibility depended on meeting Google's policies, not on the technology used.

Google's current documentation states the position plainly: Google Search indexes AMP pages just like other web pages, and applies the same standard to all pages, regardless of the technology used to build them. AMP is supported, but it earns no advantage.

• Is mobile-friendliness a Google ranking factor?
• Core Web Vitals for business websites

Should you remove AMP if you already have it?

Usually yes, if your normal pages are reasonably fast. Maintaining two versions of each page doubles the places things can go wrong: missing content, broken tracking, forms that behave differently and design that does not match your brand. Removing AMP simplifies the site and puts all visitors on the version you actually designed.

Check first that the standard mobile pages pass Core Web Vitals, or are close. If they are slow, fix them before switching AMP off, or mobile visitors will move from a fast page to a slow one. Then remove it carefully so existing links and rankings carry over.

• Confirm the normal mobile pages are fast enough to replace the AMP ones.
• Add 301 redirects from each AMP URL to its standard page.
• Remove the link tags that point from standard pages to AMP versions.
• Deactivate the AMP plugin or template only after redirects are live.
• Watch Search Console for errors and traffic changes for a month.

• Website migration SEO checklist
• Why is your mobile PageSpeed score lower than desktop?

Is there any case for keeping AMP?

A narrow one. If your AMP pages are far faster than your standard pages and you cannot improve the standard ones soon, keeping AMP protects the mobile experience in the meantime. Some large publishers also retain it because of existing advertising or distribution arrangements.

For a typical UK small business, neither applies. The effort is better spent making one responsive site fast: compressing images, trimming scripts and choosing a lean theme. That benefits every visitor and every page, not just the articles a plugin happened to convert.

• How fast a business website should load

What should you do instead of AMP?

Aim for good Core Web Vitals on your normal pages. Google's thresholds are a Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, an Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less and a Cumulative Layout Shift under 0.1. Meeting them on mobile gives you what AMP promised, without a second set of pages.

• Serve images at the size they are displayed, in a modern format.
• Remove plugins and third-party scripts you do not need.
• Reserve space for images and embeds so the layout does not jump.
• Use good hosting with caching and a content delivery network.

• Optimise website images for speed and search

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see on older WordPress sites: an AMP plugin was switched on years ago and forgotten. Blog posts now have a second version with different styling, no enquiry form and no call button. Mobile visitors from Google land on that version, read the article and have no obvious way to get in touch.

The owner sees healthy blog traffic and no enquiries from it. Removing AMP with proper redirects sends those visitors to the real page, with the real calls to action. Global Bridge Labs (GBL) checks for leftover AMP during any website review, because it is easy to miss from a desktop.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses
• Make your website work properly on mobile

Next step

Search for one of your blog posts on a phone and look at the address after you tap through. If it contains 'amp', you are maintaining a second site you probably do not need.