What Are AMP Stories and What Do They Mean For Your Website?
More than 5 billion Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) have been created since they were launched in 2015. So what are they? AMP is designed to provide mobile users with web pages that load instantly by simplifying the HTML, JavaScript, and Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Now Google has launched the latest chapter of AMP: AMP Stories.
AMP Stories are designed to be immersive, tappable, full-screen content; like you see on Snapchat and Instagram stories. Until now, AMP has only been suitable for mobile, but Google has rolled out desktop support which will allow these stories to be supported by any kind of device.
Traditional AMP relies on text-driven content but stories are designed to be “visually rich”, relying heavily on images, videos, and animation to tell the story. This means instead of reading a news article, for example, users can opt to tap through the visual AMP story and absorb the main points in a more dynamic way and in a much shorter timeframe.
What does that mean for your webpage?
Like traditional AMP, stories have the potential to positively affect your SEO. Google has long adopted a mobile-first initiative. In addition to that, Google announced that from July 2018, loading speed of mobile websites will be a ranking factor in mobile searches.
[bctt tweet=”From July 2018, loading speed of mobile websites will be a ranking factor in mobile searches” username=”Kamberco”]
Are these stories worth looking into? Definitely. Any business with a content strategy should be able to incorporate the stories into their existing plans – think tutorials, product reviews, lists etc. AMP stories have the potential to improve user experience and help brands deliver content in a captivating way.