Story Based Question
You’re a digital marketing manager for a large news website, and you’ve recently implemented AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) to improve the mobile experience and rankings. Your team is excited about the faster load times and potential SEO benefits. However, you’re unsure whether the AMP pages are fully compliant with SEO best practices. How do you ensure that these AMP pages are not only fast but also optimized for search engine visibility?
Exact Answer
To test AMP pages for SEO compliance, use tools like Google Search Console, AMP Test, and structured data validation to check for errors, ensure that AMP pages are indexed properly, and confirm that important SEO elements are correctly implemented.
Explanation
Testing AMP pages for SEO compliance is crucial to ensure that they meet all the requirements for fast, user-friendly, and search engine-optimized pages. Simply having an AMP version of a page isn’t enough; it needs to follow best practices to maximize its SEO impact. Here’s how you can ensure your AMP pages are compliant with SEO standards:
- Use Google Search Console for AMP Errors
Google Search Console provides a valuable report specifically for AMP pages. It will show you any AMP-specific errors, such as missing components or issues that could prevent the page from being properly indexed. Regularly checking this report will help you catch issues early.
How to implement it:- Go to the AMP Status Report in Google Search Console to identify any errors.
- Focus on fixing issues like invalid HTML, missing
<amp-ad>tags, or incorrect use of<script>tags. - If you spot any critical errors, address them immediately and revalidate the page to ensure it’s correctly indexed.
- Test AMP Pages with Google’s AMP Test Tool
Google provides an AMP Test tool that allows you to check if your AMP page is valid and can be properly rendered by search engines. This tool will highlight any issues that could prevent your AMP page from being shown in search results.
How to implement it:- Enter the AMP page URL into Google’s AMP Test Tool to check for errors and validation.
- If the tool shows any problems, fix them according to the specific suggestions provided.
- Once the AMP page is error-free, retest it to confirm that everything works as expected.
- Check Structured Data for Compliance
AMP pages can also include structured data (such as Schema.org markup), but you must ensure that it’s correctly implemented. Structured data helps search engines understand the content of your page, improving the likelihood of rich snippets appearing in search results. AMP pages that have structured data issues can harm your SEO performance.
How to implement it:- Use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to validate the structured data on your AMP pages.
- Ensure that all required fields (e.g., article title, date, author) are included, and there are no errors or warnings.
- If you’re using rich snippets like article, event, or product schema, make sure the AMP page is correctly formatted to display them.
- Ensure Proper Canonical Tags
Since AMP pages are considered a version of the original mobile page, it’s essential to have the correct canonical link. The canonical tag tells search engines which version of a page should be indexed. Without the correct canonical tag, Google might not recognize the AMP page as the mobile version of the content, potentially leading to duplicate content issues.
How to implement it:- On the AMP page, ensure there is a canonical link tag pointing to the original HTML page, typically in the
<head>section. It should look like this:
<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.example.com/regular-page”> - This ensures that Google knows the AMP version is secondary to the main page and avoids SEO penalties for duplicate content.
- On the AMP page, ensure there is a canonical link tag pointing to the original HTML page, typically in the
- Test Mobile Usability
Since AMP is all about improving mobile user experience, you need to ensure that the page is mobile-friendly and renders well across different devices. Google values mobile-first websites, so if your AMP page doesn’t function well on mobile, it can hurt your rankings.
How to implement it:- Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to check if your AMP pages are optimized for mobile devices.
- Look for any issues related to text size, touch elements, and viewport settings that could hinder mobile usability.
Example
Let’s say you’re running a news website that’s just launched AMP versions of your articles. You’ve implemented AMP to improve mobile page load speeds and rank better in mobile search results. However, before you celebrate, you decide to test the AMP pages for SEO compliance.
First, you go to Google Search Console and check the AMP report. You notice a few AMP errors related to invalid HTML on certain pages. The pages have broken <amp-img> tags, preventing the images from displaying properly on mobile. You fix the issues by adjusting the image tags to ensure they’re AMP-compliant, then revalidate the pages in Search Console.
Next, you test the AMP pages using Google’s AMP Test Tool. You find one page that doesn’t pass validation due to a missing <amp-ad> tag. You add the required ad tag, re-test, and everything passes.
Finally, you check the structured data using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool. You discover that some articles are missing the author field in their structured data markup, which could affect the display of rich snippets. After adding the missing information, you test again and confirm that everything is working.
After these steps, you ensure that all your AMP pages have the correct canonical tags, ensuring there are no duplicate content issues. You also confirm that the pages are mobile-friendly using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and make adjustments to ensure that they load smoothly on all devices.
With everything in place, your AMP pages are now SEO-compliant, ensuring they have the best chance of ranking well in Google search results and delivering a smooth user experience for your mobile visitors.
Testing AMP pages for SEO compliance is essential for ensuring that they’re optimized for search engine visibility. Using tools like Google Search Console, AMP Test, and the Structured Data Testing Tool, you can identify and fix issues that could affect your rankings. By ensuring your AMP pages meet SEO best practices, you improve the chances of better search visibility and a smoother user experience on mobile devices.