What is AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
Also known as: Accelerated Mobile Pages, AMP pages, AMP HTML
AMP is an open source framework for building light, fast pages, launched by Google in 2015 as Accelerated Mobile Pages. For a few years it was almost mandatory to appear in the mobile news carousel. Today Google indexes AMP pages like any other, applies the same standard to all pages regardless of technology, and AMP content ranks like any other page.
A regional news site has kept two versions of every story since 2017: the regular page and the AMP version. Every layout change has to be done twice, and the AMP version lacks the newsletter signup form.
With its regular pages already fast and stable, the site decides to remove AMP: it drops the link to the AMP version from each story and redirects the AMP URLs to the regular pages. It now maintains a single layout, and the version readers see has every feature again.
How AMP started
Google announced the AMP project in October 2015, together with news industry partners. The idea was a restricted version of HTML, with limited JavaScript and ready made components, that loaded almost instantly on phones.
In 2018 the project moved to open governance and, in 2019, joined the OpenJS Foundation. The official name stopped being an acronym, but the industry still calls it AMP.
What changed in 2021
For years, the mobile Top Stories carousel practically required AMP. In November 2020, Google announced that from 2021 any page meeting the Google News content policies could appear there, prioritizing great page experience whether built with AMP or any other web technology.
That ended the main business reason to adopt AMP. Since then, what counts is experience, measured by Core Web Vitals, not the format.
What changed in July 2026
On July 1, 2026, Google simplified its AMP documentation and changed how it sends users to these pages: Search now takes users directly to the AMP page on the publisher's own host. References to the AMP viewer, the AMP Cache and signed exchanges were removed from the documentation.
In practice, AMP publishers no longer need to update the cache or configure signed exchanges. According to Google's own notice, AMP content will continue to rank just like any other web page.
Rules for AMP on Google Search
- Follow the AMP HTML specification and keep the page valid.
- Offer the same content and actions as the canonical page, where possible.
- Use a URL that makes sense to users, such as amp.example.com/page or example.com/amp/page, not an unrelated domain.
- Follow the structured data policies if the page has markup.
- Keep in mind that AMP on desktop does not get Search specific features.
Is AMP still worth using?
| Recommendation | |
|---|---|
| New site | A well built regular page, fast and stable, without AMP |
| News site with AMP working well | Can keep it; the cache and signed exchange work is gone |
| Duplicated, outdated AMP | Consider removing it, redirecting to the regular page |
| Web Stories | Still built with AMP and can appear in Search |
Frequently asked questions
What is AMP?
An open source framework for light, fast pages, launched by Google in 2015 as Accelerated Mobile Pages.
Does AMP help SEO?
Not by itself. Google applies the same standard to all pages and AMP content ranks like any other. What helps is experience: a fast, stable page, with or without AMP.
Do I need AMP to appear in Top Stories?
No. Since 2021, any page that meets the Google News policies can appear, with priority for great page experience.
What changed with AMP in 2026?
Since July 2026, Search takes users directly to the AMP page on the publisher's host. The AMP Cache and signed exchanges are no longer needed.
How do I remove AMP pages from a site?
Following Google's guide: remove the rel=amphtml link from the canonical page and redirect each AMP URL to the matching regular page with a 301 or 302.
Related terms
- Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are three metrics that measure the real experience of people visiting a page: LCP, how long...
- PWAA PWA, short for Progressive Web App, is an app built with web technologies that offers an experience similar...
- Canonical tagA canonical URL is the version Google picks as the main one when the same content exists at several...
- IndexingIndexing is the stage where Google analyzes the content of a page it has already crawled, works out what it...
- Rich snippetsRich snippets are Google results that show more than a title, URL and description: review stars, a product's...
- SERPSERP stands for search engine results page, the page a search engine shows after a query. On Google, it...
- Google Search Central: about AMP on Google Search
- Google Search Central: latest documentation updates
- Google Search Central: remove your AMP pages from Google Search
- Google Search Central Blog: Timing for bringing page experience to Google Search (2020)
- amp.dev: the AMP project
- Wikipedia: Accelerated Mobile Pages
Rodrigo Fávaro
Founder of ROO3, a marketing and technology agency in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. Builds AI products running in production (Tobia, gerar.app, Pense Mercado) and maintains the AI Benchmark, a public ranking of AI models.
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