10 ms·

Google should reward fast / jank-free websites instead of rewarding websites that use one particular technology (AMP). On SERPs, both the "flash" icon and the

Google should reward fast / jank-free websites instead of rewarding websites that use one particular technology (AMP). On SERPs, both the "flash" icon and the AMP carousel are AMP-exclusive which suggests that Google is abusing its market power.

Zikes 10y ago
Bing also includes AMP in their search results: http://blogs.bing.com/search/September-2016/bing-app-joins-the-amp-open-source-effort http://blogs.bing.com/search/September-2016/bing-app-joins-t... AMP is a standard for creating fast / jank-free web sites, which all search engines can implement freely. Google is spearheading the effort because nobody else did, but they're not monopolizing it. Everyone is free to contribute.
- prebrov 10y ago
  Afaik, AMP is solely driven and developed by Google engineers, both standard and implementation. Everyone is free to follow, but they don't accept contributions. That is monopolising.
  - cramforce 10y ago
    It is not true that AMP does not accept contributions. What is your data to back that up? Here is actual data: https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml/graphs/contributors https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml/graphs/contributors AMP currently has 275 contributors (people whose code was merged) on its open source project. Lets aim high and say 50 of them work for Google (probably a bit less), that leaves about 225 other contributors.
xd1936 10y ago
They do. They reward sites that load fast. They also offer AMP as another way to speed sites up, which in turn makes them rise in rankings. But Google offers a large suite of tools to help web developers speed up their websites.
- lox 10y ago
  They penalize slow sites, its very different.
  - jjnoakes 10y ago
    I don't immediately see the vast difference between ranking fast sights higher and ranking slow sites lower. Clue me in please.
  - vorpalhex 10y ago
    If all websites fall into one of two categories: fast or slow, and you penalize one, it's the same as helping the other and vice versa.
    - greglindahl 10y ago
      The world isn't that simple. Search engines know how fast their fetches are all of the time, but they only know how fast a javascript-heavy site is when the search engine crawls with javascript on -- which is rarely. And by construction, AMP pages are easy to analyze without having to execute anything.
      - chris_va 10y ago
        You perhaps underestimate the complexity and fidelity of the Google crawl, indexing, and ranking pipeline. Many intelligent people have spent many years trying to solve the sorts of problems you describe. (disclaimer: I work at Google, and used to work on Search)
        greglindahl 10y ago
        I totally get that Google has done a lot of work on these issues. It is still the case that no website that wants good ranks should depend on Google executing their javascript. Implementing AMP, on the other hand, means that you know you're going to get a good mobile speed score. In no way was I dissing Google's crawl or crawl team. I'm just handing out conservative advice for website owners. (disclaimer: blekko Founder/CTO. Nice to meet you.)
bastawhiz 10y ago
AMP pages can be tested and proven to load fast. There's no way to guarantee that a non-AMP page will be fast for a user. The way AMP is designed allows Google to inspect the source and determine whether the page meets the requirements or not. Caching the page guarantees that the content Google tests is the content the user gets. Imagine if Google rewarded plain old websites the same way they reward AMP sites. You'd have sites gaming the system by hiding ads and disabling web fonts just to get ranked higher, then taking a crap on "real" users visiting the site.

Zikes 10y ago

Bing also includes AMP in their search results: http://blogs.bing.com/search/September-2016/bing-app-joins-the-amp-open-source-effort http://blogs.bing.com/search/September-2016/bing-app-joins-t... AMP is a standard for creating fast / jank-free web sites, which all search engines can implement freely. Google is spearheading the effort because nobody else did, but they're not monopolizing it. Everyone is free to contribute.

prebrov 10y ago
Afaik, AMP is solely driven and developed by Google engineers, both standard and implementation. Everyone is free to follow, but they don't accept contributions. That is monopolising.
- cramforce 10y ago
  It is not true that AMP does not accept contributions. What is your data to back that up? Here is actual data: https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml/graphs/contributors https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml/graphs/contributors AMP currently has 275 contributors (people whose code was merged) on its open source project. Lets aim high and say 50 of them work for Google (probably a bit less), that leaves about 225 other contributors.

xd1936 10y ago

They do. They reward sites that load fast. They also offer AMP as another way to speed sites up, which in turn makes them rise in rankings. But Google offers a large suite of tools to help web developers speed up their websites.

lox 10y ago
They penalize slow sites, its very different.
- jjnoakes 10y ago
  I don't immediately see the vast difference between ranking fast sights higher and ranking slow sites lower. Clue me in please.
- vorpalhex 10y ago
  If all websites fall into one of two categories: fast or slow, and you penalize one, it's the same as helping the other and vice versa.
  - greglindahl 10y ago
    The world isn't that simple. Search engines know how fast their fetches are all of the time, but they only know how fast a javascript-heavy site is when the search engine crawls with javascript on -- which is rarely. And by construction, AMP pages are easy to analyze without having to execute anything.
    - chris_va 10y ago
      You perhaps underestimate the complexity and fidelity of the Google crawl, indexing, and ranking pipeline. Many intelligent people have spent many years trying to solve the sorts of problems you describe. (disclaimer: I work at Google, and used to work on Search)
      - greglindahl 10y ago
        I totally get that Google has done a lot of work on these issues. It is still the case that no website that wants good ranks should depend on Google executing their javascript. Implementing AMP, on the other hand, means that you know you're going to get a good mobile speed score. In no way was I dissing Google's crawl or crawl team. I'm just handing out conservative advice for website owners. (disclaimer: blekko Founder/CTO. Nice to meet you.)

bastawhiz 10y ago

AMP pages can be tested and proven to load fast. There's no way to guarantee that a non-AMP page will be fast for a user. The way AMP is designed allows Google to inspect the source and determine whether the page meets the requirements or not. Caching the page guarantees that the content Google tests is the content the user gets. Imagine if Google rewarded plain old websites the same way they reward AMP sites. You'd have sites gaming the system by hiding ads and disabling web fonts just to get ranked higher, then taking a crap on "real" users visiting the site.