The world has witnessed an enormous increase in mobile users count in the last few years. According to Statista, the number of mobile phone users, worldwide, is expected to cross the 5 billion mark by 2020, which makes an estimate of 65% of the total world population (7.8 Billion by March 2020) having access to mobile phones. Talking about Internet users, 56.1% of the world’s population has access to the Internet, as of April 2019. (Source: Wikipedia)
With such a vast majority of people having access to mobile devices and the Internet, it leaves no question why Google gives high priority to faster loading of web pages on mobile phones.
Research says that 40% of mobile users abandon the website or the web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Considering the importance of page load speed, Google launched Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP that loads pages lightning fast in mobile devices. Google showed the AMP versions of web pages in mobile search results for the first time in February 2016.
What exactly are Accelerated Mobile Pages?
AMP is an open-source initiative by Google that primarily focuses on the faster loading of web pages on mobile to provide an enhanced and smooth browsing experience to mobile users without interrupting the desktop view. Whether you are an e-commerce company, a publisher or an advertiser, AMP is the need today to improve the experience of mobile users on the web.
AMP-enabled pages show a lightning symbol right next to the page URL.
Google AMP for eCommerce
Since a majority of online shoppers use mobile phones to shop, page load speed, therefore, holds extreme value. As per the stats collected by Statista, mobile commerce accounted for 63.5% of the total sales worldwide in 2018. M-commerce already surpassed eCommerce in 2016 and the sales count is expected to reach nearly 73% by 2021.
The percentage reflects the change in the trend of online shopping and how m-commerce is continuously dominating eCommerce year-over-year. The introduction of Accelerated Mobile Pages has helped eCommerce businesses scale-up their conversions by improving their performance and visibility on mobile searches.
Let’s now try to understand the benefits of Google AMP for eCommerce
Benefits of Accelerated Mobile Pages for eCommerce
1. Increases the Page Load Speed
Accelerated Mobile Pages improve the web page load speed or say reduces the page load time of your website. It avoids clunky elements that might slow down your site speed and enables quick browsing facility across mobile devices.
Your website might be amazing but if there’s a lag in loading or if it is not mobile-friendly, users will leave it straight away. Better the site speed, better the conversion rate.
2. Reduces Bounce Rate
Since AMP offers quick loading, it puts an end to the troublesome experience that users face due to slow page loading. The increased load speed leads to reduced bounce rate, higher user engagement and the boosts the average site time.
3. Increase in Mobile Search Engine Rankings
The swift loading offered by Google AMP improves the mobile rankings in the Search Engine Result Pages(SERPs). Your web pages might not be ranking well on the search engine when browsing from a desktop, enabling AMP on your e-commerce website can improve the chances of ranking those pages at a better position when browsing via mobile devices, though it is not guaranteed as rankings depend on so many factors.
4. Accelerated Mobile Pages improve Website’s Performance
Accelerated Mobile Pages create a rich and mobile-friendly version of your eCommerce website and bring in high click-through rates and the AMP pages can be adjusted for multiple browsers. Besides, you do not need to make an XML sitemap for the AMP pages. Google automatically creates the sitemaps for your AMP pages.
5. AMP can be implemented across various pages on your Website
You can implement Google AMP on multiple pages on your eCommerce website and make it easier for your mobile visitors to surf your store’s content without any trouble.
Accelerated Mobile Pages Module by Knowband
The AMP module by Knowband accelerates the web page loading on mobile devices and allows you to enable AMPs for multiple pages on your website like Home Page, Category Page, Product Page, CMS pages. Knowband currently offers this module to Prestashop and OpenCart platforms. Do check out-
Accelerated Mobile Pages(AMP)- Prestashop addon
Accelerated Mobile Pages(AMP)- OpenCart extension
Key features
The AMP module offers some remarkable features:
1. Generate AMP on your
Home Page
Category Page
Product Page
CMS Pages
2. Display a YouTube video, Instagram and Twitter posts, etc. on your AMP-enabled website.
3. The AMP extension allows the store admin to customize the look and feel of their e-commerce website on hand-held devices.
Apart from this, you get many other features to enhance the experience of your mobile users.
Note: For the AMP module to work, your website must have an HTTPS protocol. AMP will not function with the HTTP version.
Final word
AMP is powerful. You should definitely consider implementing it on your eCommerce website. With so much to offer, it can be a powerful tool to take your eCommerce business to new heights.
If your website is already AMP-enabled, do let me know what changes it brought to your online business.
Also read:
What is Google’s AMP and how it will impact eCommerce businesses?