Setting up and testing AMP for WordPress: A quick step guide

AMP for WordPress

A speedy and mobile-ready website is everything and that is as true as it can be. If your WordPress website isn’t equipped to be mobile-friendly, you are definitely missing out on a lot of mobile traffic and conversions. In spite of such fact-establishment, over 75% of websites take more than 10 seconds to load which is a lot behind the standard load time of 3 seconds. Glaring, isn’t it?

Since it’s 2019, the mobile-friendly scale has seen an update; the trend is that of (AMP) Accelerated Mobile Pages.

What is AMP; you might ask.

AMPs or Accelerated Mobile Pages are a smoother and distraction-free version of your website pages which have been optimized to load instantly on mobile devices of the users. Favored by Search engines in SERPs, AMPs make your blog’s/website content discoverable.

Using the least of JavaScript and HTML, Accelerated Mobile Pages can be best understood with the example of Facebook instant articles that load up at a single click. Catering to the times of virality, AMPs effectively reach and engage the audience instantly, as soon as they click on them; enhancing user experience and the overall search engine ranking.

AMPs deliver the best version of a great website.

What does a great website deliver?

• Fast loading time
• Responsive Design
• No Intrusive advertisements that annoy

And Accelerated Mobile Pages are the ones that deliver these three promises. While you can get a speedy website with great web hosting services, many of them such as GoDaddy has mixed reviews. So, you might be wondering if you can AMPpower your WordPress websites easily. Well… You can!

Hence, if you are new to the thing, here is a detailed guide to help you set up Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for your WordPress website.

Setting up AMP for WordPress on your website

To begin with, you will definitely need an AMP plugin that could work for your WordPress site. WordPress plugins like AMP for WP and Automattic’s AMP for WordPress can serve the purpose.

If you are entirely new to blogging or the WordPress ecosystem, here is a step-by-step guide to help you with the installation of an AMP plugin.

1. Login to your WordPress Dashboard by entering the login credentials.
2. Once you have logged in, you should locate the ‘PLUGINS’ tab and click on it.
3. As you click on the Plugins tab, you will be prompted with a roll-over and you should click on ‘Add New’.
4. Once you have done so, you will see a ‘Search’ bar towards the upper right corner of the dashboard. You can enter the Keywords ‘AMP’. A follow-up list will be displayed with the available plugins.
5. We highly recommend that you move ahead with the AMP plugin provided by Automattic.
6. Click on ‘Install’ and then ‘Activate’

With this, you are done with the installation and activation of the AMP plugin for your WordPress site. Moving on, you will now be required to make changes towards how your accelerated website pages will appear on the mobile devices of your viewers or target audience.

Here is a rundown of the same.

1. While you are logged in to your WordPress site’s dashboard, you are now required to click on the ‘Appearance’
2. Clicking on the ‘Appearance’ tab will help you customize the Header text color, the background color; overall a dark or light color scheme of your specific AMPs.
3. Once you have made the confirmed changes, click on ‘Save & Publish’

For extra customizations, you will need a few more plugins so that your site’s AMP pursuit is well implemented. The two plugins that you will need are the Yoast SEO plugin and Glue for Yoast SEO and AMP. You should install and activate them as well.

If you are wondering how Yoast SEO will help with accelerating your website’s mobile pages, here is a brief. The web traffic and the mobile traffic might not be very different in terms of their back engine but they do work slightly differently. The Yoast SEO, as we all know, is an SEO booster plugin and it helps you with the whereabouts of a solid Search engine optimization strategy. Since the Google AMP project is focussed on favoring mobile-ready and optimized websites, you would definitely not want to be left out due to any missing pieces.

The Glue for Yoast SEO and AMP plugin makes sure that your pages run the valid AMP code for a smooth mobile experience. It simply integrates the Yoast plugin to work with your site’s AMP.

Here are the next steps that you need to follow:

1. Once you have installed and activated the two plugins that we have just mentioned above, you will be able to see an ‘SEO’ tab towards the left bottom of your dashboard. Click on it and the rollover will show the required ‘AMP’ Click on it.
2. Once you click on ‘AMP’, you will be able to define how AMP works for your particular website; if you would want to optimize specific pages, posts, or the media. You can have them enabled or disabled as shown below.

You can make other changes to the ‘Design’ and ‘Analytics’ for your AMP efforts. Under the ‘Design’ section, you can add AMP Header color, post meta info color, extra CSS, and codes, and a lot more. For the Analytics section, you can add your Google Analytics tracking code for metrics purposes.

After making the changes, always click on ‘Save Changes’.

Conclusion:

With so many good things on the plate, Accelerated Mobile Pages might be one of the best efforts you put in for your WordPress website. Although the utility of AMP has been debated and claims being made that it drastically plays to reduce the incoming traffic, some of the informed users might hesitate. However, if you want the best and the most seamless user-experience for your audience, AMP is definitely the thing for you.