Optimizing web pages for mobile users is a difficult task. Modern platforms have mobile-ready versions of the desktop site available, albeit they do not always translate to smaller screens all that well. Google’s AMP solution makes these mobile pages very lightweight, and addresses a lot of scaling issues. It is not without its downside, however, as revenue generated from these pages is far less when compared to any other solution.
Google AMP Requires More Work By Content Creators
There is a fine line to walk between optimizing web pages for all platforms, and still earning maximum revenue from the created content. For anyone dealing with Google AMP web pages, that latter part is a major struggle, as the earnings will be significantly lower compared to other solutions. At the same time, AMP pages require a different type of advertising tactic, and there are plenty of opportunities that many site owners don’t even know about.
This news started gaining traction once the Wall Street Journal picked up on it. After sitting down with a few media sites, it became apparent that their Google AMP earnings will fall far below expectations. The platform has limited advertisement placement opportunities, which make it more difficult to generate a decent profit.
In fact, some outlets claim that they only see half of their regular earnings when dealing with Google AMP. Google quickly rebutted these statements by explaining how the site developers need to take a closer look at AMP’s advertising opportunities, as it is not a 1:1 copy of the regular site.
Every single AMP page is located on Google’s servers, which can be interlaced with regular news articles from other sources. Since the 2016 Google I/O event, a lot of publishers have started to explore this mobile version for their web pages, as it enhances the user experience. Any Google search result listed on AMP pages will also rank much higher than their regular counterparts.
This news shows two sides of the medallion, though, as other media outlets generate virtually the same revenue from AMP pages and normal web content. It all comes down to how sites are structured, and how much time site owners want to put into their mobile versions. Google’s AMP is certainly worth checking out, but it requires a bit of work to get the revenue streams flowing properly.
Once again, monetization is the most important part of this story. Anyone who creates content will expect to see some form of financial reward from it at some point. This is only normal, and the increase in ad blockers makes life more difficult. Google AMP may be the way forward to improve the mobile site experience and still keep revenue coming in.
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