On average, it takes retail mobile sites around 6.9 seconds to load. That may not sound like a huge amount of time, but it’s actually double the length of time that 40% of internet users will wait before swiftly abandoning a page. But that’s not even the worst of it. 79% of online shoppers reported they wouldn’t return to a slow website, and they’d promptly spread the word.

As for non-retail sites? It only gets worse. Google has discovered it takes 19 seconds for the average mobile website to load, and a 14 second boost in speed could result in double the revenue. We’re an impatient bunch – we know it and Google knows it. So to solve this problem, Google is speeding up the internet with Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) technology. Now, mobile sites can load in just 5 seconds.

AMP technology has already been delivering static content like articles and blog posts, but now Google is moving to accelerate search ads, landing pages and ads on web pages themselves. “Page load time is one of the strongest reasons of page bounce,” noted Google in a blog post.

How it Works

Google is speeding up the net in two different ways. First, Google AdWords is launching a new beta that allows advertisers to use AMP pages as landing pages, and second, Google is speeding up ads across the entire Google Display Network. AMP ad landing pages load under 1 second and when possible, the user is not redirected to the ad server click tracker. It also uses 10 times less data.

The intent is to create a more streamlined mobile experience for customers. So far, there have been over 150 million AMP pages built, delivering content 4 times faster than usual. However, depite the hype, there are a couple of downfalls to AMP technology.

To keep the pages ‘light’ on code, AMP pages don’t allow the use of third party JavaScript or complex HTML which means more advanced functions like data transfer, tracking and analytics won’t be supported. Some people are also seeing this as Google’s attempt to rule the mobile web, controlling as much of it as possible.

For example, AMP pages show up at the top of search results by default. Google has refuted this, saying that AMP isn’t a ranking factor in its algorithm, but the positioning of AMP pages on SERPs speaks for itself. This advantage means AMP pages are easier to discover and access.

Google says it expects AMP technology to improve web experiences for both marketers and users for three main reasons:

• Internet users will be more likely to click on an ad if they know it will deliver a positive experience.
• Better user experiences result in higher conversion rates for both marketers and advertisers.
• Publishers benefit from boosted revenue with better ads, while allowing their readers a way back to their content.

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