How do you balance design, functionality, and performance when creating AMP pages?

In 2023, AMP is largely less effective and adopted than several years ago. At it's core, AMP is about fast mobile performance, yet Google has shifted towards more of a Core Web Vitals approach to performance for most sites in recent years. So let's set the stage that IMO, unless you are a large daily news publisher, and already part of the Google Publisher Center program, AMP may not be the most effective solution in 2023.

I agree with my colleague Steve. There are few reasons why you would not use this technology. AMP was created and improved by a host of wonderful and knowledgeable developers. Its been a few years now since mobile use has surpassed desktop use . The mobile experience is absolutely a key to effectively index your website. The hand held supercomputers we use every day will continue to replace overall desktop usage. Google itself first indexes your mobile applications to serve search positions. Apps are continually updating to improve user experience.

Accelerated Mobile Pages can be a cost-effective alternative to recoding a large website, or a website hosted on a platform that has speed limitations, but should be thought of as a long-term solution. Instead, plan on recoding the website or replatforming to a solution that can be elastic as it pertains to speed and mobile experience. Plenty of headless CMS solutions are available to explore. AMP can be explained as loading JavaScript all at once versus delaying scripts and Jerry-rigging a page to pass scoring tools but leaving the user with a poor experience. A disadvantage is that some scripts will not work with AMP. Ergo, why you might see a message such as "Media is not compatible with AMP" when reading a news article.

Thankfully platforms like shopify and wix have built in layouts that make AMP integrate as you design your site. There are great agencies that offer great value to assist businesses of all sizes create a visually appealing and dynamic website. Your website should tell a story. Todays stories utilize dynamic images and videos to move visitors through your website or give them ways to easily jump to the area of their interests.

I would add that AMP fits perfectly for text-heavy news and blog content, easily consumable on a mobile device. Avoid trying to fit in functionality, such as forms, Progress Web Apps, and features that are more appropriate for lower-funnel (persuasive) or interactive content. AMP pages look and function great with larger fonts, wider row spacing, and larger margins between paragraphs. When required, use a call to action to signal the user to view the responsive version if there are features or functionality not compatible with AMP. It's not ideal, but it's better than the user not being able to interact with the content at all.

As you read all the capabilities of AMP its easy to understand why it’s essential components are necessary to compete against a competitor who offers a great website experience.

I am a huge advocate of using the full power of AMP on all of our agency’s design work. Our websites see strong search rankings and are created to offer the best possible user experience.