For a couple of days, you can observe that Google is testing AMP results in desktop SERPs. AMP pages were reserved only for mobile users until now, but it seems that Google is testing this option also on the desktop. They now link to the AMP version on desktop too. Let's find out what this change means to marketers and users.
How to Identify AMP Results
First, we should find out how you identify an AMP result. Every AMP page has a lighting bolt icon next to the result. When you make a query and see a result with a lighting bolt icon, it means that it is an AMP result. On the desktop version, we can notice that the images for AMP pages are very big and get all the attention. As they are shown now on the desktop version creates a huge discrepancy between AMP results and the other ones. For now, we discovered that you can see the AMP results when you are searching for celebrities, for example.
These results have great benefits for users. The pages load faster as it indicates the name, Accelerated Mobile Pages. It will first load faster the important features of your website, than the other ones. This improves user experience.
Until now, this feature was available only for mobile users. The marketers were taken by surprise when they discover that Google is testing it on the desktop too.
Marketers and AMP Pages
For marketers are a few downsides about this change in SERPs. The content of the website can be stripped down because it will not be shown as the original version of your website. The accent is put on the fast speed and this can lead to stripping your content for AMP pages.
Another disadvantage for marketers is that they can lose several branding elements. As we have mentioned before, an AMP page will not contain all the elements your website has. The content will be cut and in this context, you will end up losing several branding elements. This will affect your branding efforts. And when it happened only for mobile users was one thing, but when this stripped content is delivered to most of your users, both desktop, and mobile, the impact is bigger. You should reconsider the overall website design for appropriate branding on AMP pages.
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If your content is stripped in important ways, you can experience a higher bounce rate. This will lead to serious problems, now more than ever. If AMP pages will be delivered on the desktop version too, it will lead to a higher bounce rate that can affect badly your profits. You will not be able to rely anymore on your desktop user experience and must do serious improvements on the AMP pages for better results.
SEO Impact
At this point, we don't know how this will impact SEO but it seems that Google is considering showing AMP results in SERPs. We will wait and see how this change will be received by both users and marketers. We must monitor further this subject and see what Google will decide. Afterward, we can set up a proper strategy regarding AMP pages.