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AMP (originally an
acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
for Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an
open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
framework developed by the AMP Open Source Project. It was originally created by
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
as a competitor to Facebook Instant Articles and
Apple News Apple News is a news aggregator app developed by Apple Inc., for its iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS operating systems. The iOS version was launched with the release of iOS 9. It is the successor to the Newsstand app included in previous vers ...
. AMP is optimized for mobile web browsing and intended to help webpages load faster. AMP pages may be cached by a
CDN CDN may refer to: Places * Canada (Canadian), a North American country * , a neighborhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada Technology * Content delivery network, on the Internet * Change detection and notification, of Web pages Transportation * Can ...
, such as
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...
or
Cloudflare Cloudflare, Inc. is an American content delivery network and DDoS mitigation company, founded in 2009. It primarily acts as a reverse proxy between a website's visitor and the Cloudflare customer's hosting provider. Its headquarters are in San ...
's AMP caches, which allows pages to be served more quickly. AMP was first announced on October 7, 2015. After a technical preview period, AMP pages began appearing in Google mobile search results in February 2016. AMP has been criticized for potentially giving further control over the web to Google and other concerns. The AMP Project announced it would move to an open governance model on September 18, 2018.


History


Announcement and launch

The AMP Project was announced by Google on October 7, 2015, following discussions with its partners in the Digital News Initiative (DNI), and other news publishers and technology companies around the world, about improving the performance of the mobile web. More than 30 news publishers and several technology companies (including
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Pinterest Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images, and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboard ...
,
LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
and
WordPress WordPress (WP or WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in hypertext preprocessor language and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database with supported HTTPS. Features include a plugin architecture ...
) were initially announced as collaborators in the AMP Project. AMP pages first appeared to web users in February 2016, when Google began to show the AMP versions of webpages in mobile search results. Initially links to AMP pages were restricted to a "Top Stories" section of Google's mobile search results; by September 2016 Google started linking to AMP content in the main mobile search results area. At the time, Google search distinguished AMP links with an icon. According to one of the co-founders of the AMP Project, Malte Ubl, AMP was originally called PCU, which stood for Portable Content Unit.


Growth and expansion

In September 2016,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
announced support for AMP in the
Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...
apps for
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
and Android. In February 2017, a year after the public launch of AMP,
Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
reported AMP pages accounted for 7% of all web traffic for top publishers in the United States. In May 2017, Google reported 900,000 web domains were publishing AMP pages with more than two billion AMP pages published globally. In June 2017, Twitter started linking to AMP pages from its iOS and Android apps. In September 2018, Microsoft began rolling out its own Bing AMP viewer and AMP cache. On December 7, 2018, AMP announced their official WordPress plugin, which allowed WordPress websites to include AMP-ready pages. As announced by AMP's tech lead Malte Ubl at AMP Conf '19, AMP is now just AMP, and does not stand for Accelerated Mobile Pages anymore. AMP is designed to be mobile friendly but isn't just for mobile. It works across many device types, including desktop and tablet, and comes with helpful responsive design features.


Other developments

Starting in 2021, support for AMP is being discontinued in some apps. In November, Twitter updated its developer guidelines to say that "We’re in the process of discontinuing support for this feature"; the Twitter mobile apps for Android and iOS simply load the non-AMP versions of webpages. In April 2021, Google removed AMP as an SEO criterion in favor of page loading speed and other "page experience" metrics. In search results, the Top Stories list will no longer be restricted to AMP pages, and AMP pages will no longer be distinguished by an icon. On April 20, 2022,
Brave Browser Brave is a free and open-source web browser developed by Brave Software, Inc. based on the Chromium web browser. Brave is a privacy-focused browser, which automatically blocks online advertisements and website trackers in its default settings. ...
rolled out new features to automatically bypass AMP pages. Also on the same day,
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo (DDG) is an internet search engine that emphasizes protecting searchers' privacy and avoiding the filter bubble of personalized search results. DuckDuckGo does not show search results from content farms. It uses various APIs of o ...
announced that they will also automatically bypass AMP pages on their DuckDuckGo browser and on their DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials
browser extension A browser extension is a small software module for customizing a web browser. Browsers typically allow a variety of extensions, including user interface modifications, cookie management, ad blocking, and the custom scripting and styling of web p ...
.


AMP Framework


AMP HTML

The AMP framework consists of three components: AMP HTML, which is standard HTML markup with
web components Web Components are a set of features that provide a standard component model for the Web allowing for encapsulation and interoperability of individual HTML elements. Primary technologies used to create them include: * Custom Elements: APIs to ...
; AMP JavaScript, which manages resource loading; and AMP caches, which serve and validate AMP pages. Most AMP pages are delivered by Google's AMP cache, but other companies can support AMP caches. Internet performance and security company
Cloudflare Cloudflare, Inc. is an American content delivery network and DDoS mitigation company, founded in 2009. It primarily acts as a reverse proxy between a website's visitor and the Cloudflare customer's hosting provider. Its headquarters are in San ...
launched an AMP cache in March 2017.


Web Stories

Web Stories, known as AMP Stories until April 2020, were introduced in 2018. Web stories are a mobile-focused format for delivering news and information as tap-through stories.


AMP Email

In 2018, Google announced the new AMP Email section of the AMP framework. AMP for email allows senders to include interactive AMP components inside emails. Email clients that support AMP are able to display components directly inside the email. When viewed in an unsupported email client, AMP emails display fallback HTML no different than a standard HTML email as an alternative.


AMP Ads

AMP Ads are new way to deliver digital ads for AMP enabled pages. These ads are different from traditional HTML/JavaScript ads. AMPHTML ads load as fast as content, increasing viewability and enticing engagement. AMPHTML ads are only delivered after being validated, ensuring that the ads are free of malware.


Technology


Online format

AMP pages are published online and can be displayed in most current
browsers Browse, browser or browsing may refer to: Programs * Web browser, a program used to access the World Wide Web *Code browser, a program for navigating source code * File browser or file manager, a program used to manage files and related objects * ...
. When a standard webpage has an AMP counterpart, a link to the AMP page is usually placed in an
HTML tag The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScrip ...
in the
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
of the standard page.


Third-party integration

Any organization or individual can build products or features which will work on AMP pages, provided they comply with the AMP Project specifications. As of July 2017, the AMP Project's website listed around 120 advertising companies and around 30 analytics companies as AMP Project participants.


Performance

Google reports that AMP pages served in Google search typically load in less than one second and use ten times less data than the equivalent non-AMP pages.
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
reported a 75% decrease in mobile page load time for AMP Pages over non-AMP pages, while
Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
reported that AMP pages loaded three times faster than non-AMP pages. An academic paper about AMP reveals that AMP pages' page load time is 2.5 times faster than non-AMP versions in Google's search result page without pre-rendering. With pre-rendering, the AMP version is approximately nine times faster than the non-AMP version, though pre-rendering may consume additional mobile data.


Parity with canonical pages

Google has announced that as of February 1, 2018, it will require the content of canonical pages and those displayed through AMP be substantially the same. This is aimed at improving the experience of users by avoiding common difficulties with the
user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
, and increase security and trust ( see below).


Reception


Comparison to other formats

AMP is often compared to Facebook Instant Articles and
Apple News Apple News is a news aggregator app developed by Apple Inc., for its iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and macOS operating systems. The iOS version was launched with the release of iOS 9. It is the successor to the Newsstand app included in previous vers ...
. All three formats were announced in 2015 with the stated goal of making mobile content faster and easier to consume. AMP Project supporters claim that AMP is a collaborative effort among publishers and technology companies, and that AMP is designed to work on the web instead of proprietary mobile apps.


Google control

Google's
Richard Gingras Richard Gingras is an American Internet executive and entrepreneur who has focused on emerging digital media since 1979, including efforts at Google, Apple Computer, Salon Media Group and the Public Broadcasting Service. He has been an outspoken ...
said: However, some critics believe that AMP is an impending
walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...
as Google begins to host AMP-restricted versions of their websites directly on google.com: AMP has been criticized by figures inside the tech industry as an attempt by Google to exert its dominance on the web by dictating how websites are built and monetized, and that "AMP is Google's attempt to lock publishers into its ecosystem". Joshua Benton, director of the
Nieman Journalism Lab The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University is the primary journalism institution at Harvard. It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ' ...
at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, said: "There is a sense in which AMP is a Google-built version of the web. We are moving from a world where you can put anything on your website to one where you can't because Google says so."
Ramon Tremosa Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (Barcelona, 30 June 1965) is a Catalan economist and politician, professor at the Department of Economic Theory at the University of Barcelona, where he obtained his Doctorate about the influence of macroeconomic policy i ...
, a Spanish member of the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
, said: "AMP is an example of Google dialing up its anti-competitive practices under the nose of the competition regulators." Matthew Ingram of ''Fortune'' expressed concerns about Google's role and motives regarding the AMP Project: These charges were rebutted by Google. Madhav Chinnappa stated that AMP must be a collaborative industry initiative in order for it to succeed in the long term: In September 2018, Google began transitioning AMP to a more open governance model with governing committees composed of different stakeholders in the project, ranging from publishers that use AMP including ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' and ''
Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
'' to other companies such as
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
and
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
.


Pre-rendering problems

Some AMP implementations such as Google search results use pre-rendering to improve loading speeds of AMP pages. As in other cases where pre-rendering is used, this is out of the user's control and may increase data usage.


Monetization

Some publishers reported that AMP pages generate less advertising revenue per page than non-AMP pages. ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' Jack Marshall said: Other publishers have reported better success with AMP monetization. ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' has been able to generate approximately the same amount of revenue from AMP pages as from standard mobile pages, according to director of product Joey Marburger.
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
chief product officer Alex Wellen said AMP Pages "largely monetize at the same rate" as standard mobile pages. To improve advertising performance, the AMP Project launched the AMP Ads Initiative which includes support for more advertising formats and optimizations to improve ad load speed.


Exploitation for malicious purposes

Some observers believe AMP allows more effective phishing attempts. One serious flaw, noted by tech writer Kyle Chayka, is that disreputable parties who misuse AMP (as well as Facebook's similar Instant Articles) enable junk websites to share many of the same visual cues and features found on legitimate sites. Chayka stated that "All publishers end up looking more similar than different. That makes separating the real from the fake even harder." In September 2017, Russian
hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
s used an AMP vulnerability in
phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
e-mails sent to investigative journalists critical of the Russian government, and hacked into their websites. Google announced on November 16, 2017, that it would prevent sites in Google search results from exploiting AMP to
bait-and-switch Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales but also employed in other contexts. First, customers are "baited" by merchants' advertising products or services at a low price, but when customers visit the store, they discover that the a ...
users. Since February 2018, AMP pages in Google search results must contain content equivalent to that of the non-AMP page.


References


External links

* *
AMP ValidatorAMP Email EditorAMP email guide
{{Google FOSS HTML Mobile web Google software WordPress Computer-related introductions in 2016