AMP and SEO: Does It Still Affect Search Performance?

AMP and SEO have had a complicated relationship since Google launched the Accelerated Mobile Pages project back in 2015. For a while, AMP pages dominated mobile search results, especially in the Top Stories carousel, and many publishers scrambled to adopt the framework. The picture today is quite different.

Google removed AMP as a requirement for Top Stories eligibility in 2021, replacing it with Core Web Vitals as the standard for page experience. That single decision changed the calculus for most websites. AMP is still a valid technical approach, but it is no longer the shortcut to mobile search visibility it once appeared to be.

What Is AMP?

AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is an open-source web component framework originally developed by Google to create fast-loading pages for mobile users. An AMP page uses a stripped-down version of HTML, restricts custom JavaScript, limits CSS to 50KB, and stores cached versions of pages on Google’s content delivery network (CDN) for near-instant delivery.

How the three AMP components work

AMP is built on three layers that work together:

AMP HTML is a restricted subset of standard HTML. Certain tags are replaced with AMP-specific versions (for example, <amp-img> instead of <img>), and the code must pass AMP validation to be eligible for caching.

AMP JS is the AMP JavaScript library, which manages resource loading asynchronously. Custom JavaScript is not permitted, which is one of the main constraints publishers push back against.

AMP Cache is a proxy-based CDN, primarily operated by Google, that stores validated AMP pages and serves them directly to users. This is where the speed gains come from: the page is delivered from a server close to the user, not from the origin site.

Does AMP Help SEO?

AMP is not a direct ranking factor. Google has confirmed this on multiple occasions. What AMP does is help sites achieve fast page load times and good Core Web Vitals scores, which are ranking signals. The distinction matters because it means AMP is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

What changed in 2021

Before June 2021, AMP was required for pages to appear in Google’s Top Stories carousel, which sits at the top of mobile search results for news-related queries. This gave publishers a strong incentive to adopt AMP regardless of its technical trade-offs. When Google removed that requirement and replaced it with Core Web Vitals, the primary SEO incentive for most sites disappeared.

What the data shows

Pages that load quickly and score well on Core Web Vitals rank better on mobile searches. AMP can help achieve those scores, but so can a well-optimised standard website. At ProfileTree, when we audit client sites, we consistently find that sites using modern image formats (WebP or AVIF), a reliable CDN, and efficient code can match or exceed AMP performance without the design restrictions.

AMP Pros and Cons for Modern Websites

The decision to implement, keep, or remove AMP depends on your site type and current performance. Here is an honest assessment.

Speed and Server Benefits

AMP pages load faster than most non-AMP pages because they are pre-cached and pre-rendered. For publishers in markets where mobile data is expensive or connections are slower, this remains a genuine user experience advantage. Bounce rates tend to fall when pages load within one to two seconds, and that indirectly affects rankings through improved engagement signals.

The Hidden Costs of AMP

The restrictions that make AMP fast also create real operational problems. Custom JavaScript is blocked, which limits tracking, interactivity, and the kind of lead generation functionality that matters for SMEs. Design is constrained by the 50KB CSS limit, which can result in AMP pages that look noticeably different from the rest of your site. Some businesses have found that AMP pages cannibalise brand identity rather than supporting it.

Analytics is another headache. AMP pages are often served from Google’s cache domain rather than your own, which means session data can be split between AMP and non-AMP versions of pages. Getting accurate, unified analytics data requires a separate configuration that many teams do not have the resources to maintain properly.

AMP vs Core Web Vitals: Which Should You Prioritise?

For most websites in 2025, Core Web Vitals should be the priority, not AMP.

Core Web Vitals measure three things: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which is how quickly the main content loads; Interaction to Next Paint (INP), which measures responsiveness to user input; and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), which measures visual stability. These are the actual signals Google uses. AMP is one way to achieve good scores, but it is not the only way.

When AMP Still Makes Sense

AMP remains worth considering in two specific situations: large-scale news publishers who produce hundreds of articles per day and need guaranteed fast delivery at scale, and publishers serving audiences in regions where mobile infrastructure is less reliable. Outside those cases, the trade-offs outweigh the benefits for most SMEs.

As Ciaran Connolly, founder of ProfileTree, notes: “Technology doesn’t wait for anyone, and in the digital marketing arena, staying equipped with the latest tools like AMP and understanding their trajectory can set a business apart.” (Flag for Ciaran’s approval before publishing.)

A well-built WordPress site with a quality CDN, optimised images, and clean code will typically score well on Core Web Vitals without the development overhead of maintaining dual page templates. Our SEO services for Northern Ireland businesses include technical audits that check Core Web Vitals performance alongside other ranking factors.

Should You Remove AMP From Your Site?

If you currently have AMP implemented and your non-AMP pages now match or exceed your AMP pages on Core Web Vitals scores, removal is worth considering. The key risk is not losing AMP itself; it is a badly managed migration that creates canonical confusion or 404 errors in Search Console.

How to Remove AMP Safely

Follow this sequence to minimise risk:

1. Audit your AMP pages in Google Search Console under the Experience section. Note any AMP pages with errors or warnings before you start.
2. Ensure your non-AMP pages pass Core Web Vitals. Run your main page types through Google’s PageSpeed Insights. You want LCP under 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds, and CLS under 0.1 before removing AMP.
3. Remove the link rel="amphtml" tags from your canonical pages. This tells Google you are no longer serving an AMP version.
4. Set up 301 redirects from your AMP URLs (typically /amp/ or ?amp=1 variants) to your canonical pages. Without these, users and crawlers hitting old AMP URLs will get 404 errors.
5. Update your canonical tags to confirm the non-AMP URL is the definitive version.
6. Monitor Search Console for the following four to six weeks. Watch for any increase in crawl errors, drops in mobile coverage, or Core Web Vitals regressions.

The risk is manageable if you follow this process. Doing it hastily or skipping the redirect step is where sites run into problems with GSC coverage reports. If you are unsure about any of the technical steps, our technical SEO team can walk you through the audit.

AMP for WordPress Sites

WordPress users have the most options when it comes to AMP. The official AMP plugin for WordPress can generate AMP-compatible versions of posts and pages automatically, which makes initial implementation relatively straightforward. The challenge comes in ongoing maintenance: every time you update a theme or add a plugin, you need to verify that AMP versions remain valid.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are worth knowing about as an alternative. PWAs offer comparable speed improvements alongside features that AMP does not support, including offline access and push notifications. For e-commerce and service businesses, a PWA can deliver a faster mobile experience without the restrictions of the AMP framework. For most SMEs in Northern Ireland, the practical answer is a fast, well-built responsive WordPress site rather than either AMP or a full PWA build.

The Future of AMP

AMP is not going away, but its role has narrowed considerably. The open-source project continues to receive updates, and Google still supports AMP in Search Console. What has changed is that AMP is no longer positioned as the recommended path to mobile search performance. HTTP/3, modern image formats, edge CDNs, and improvements in browser rendering have collectively reduced the gap that AMP was designed to fill.

For most businesses, the energy is better spent on Core Web Vitals optimisation, structured data, and content depth. These have a wider impact on search performance than AMP ever did for non-publisher sites.

Conclusion

AMP and SEO are still connected, but not in the way they were before 2021. AMP is a tool for achieving fast mobile performance, not a ranking factor in its own right. For news publishers at scale, it may still be worth the overhead. For the majority of SMEs, a well-optimised responsive site will achieve the same Core Web Vitals scores without the design constraints, analytics complications, or maintenance burden that AMP introduces. If you want to understand how your site’s mobile performance stacks up, get in touch with the ProfileTree team for a technical audit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Got questions about AMP and SEO? Explore clear answers on rankings, mobile speed, user experience, and whether AMP still matters for modern websites.