AMP's SEO advantage wasn't in organic results, but a separate search vertical ("the carousel") placed above-the-fold. So as mentioned, introducing a new vertic

AMP's SEO advantage wasn't in organic results, but a separate search vertical ("the carousel") placed above-the-fold. So as mentioned, introducing a new vertical also allowed Google to sidestep any issues of hurting organic results. In addition, the carousel was a much more desirable placement for publishers to chase. It made them pay attention more than a small ranking factor bump would have. I do however disagree with Google's decision to implement this. I feel it's one of the legitimate criticisms of AMP, and it took them far too long to fix it.