Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages project, or AMP for short, is an open source initiative targeted at speeding up the delivery of online content. This is achieved through the utilisation of a pared down coding referred to as AMP HTML. It was developed in response to the proliferation of the mobile web. If you haven’t heard of AMP or haven’t yet implemented AMP on your hotel website, you are missing out on the chance to grow your revenue and increase booking value. Why? Because AMP content has better search visibility and taps into the growing trend for travellers to search and book travel products such as hotel rooms via a smartphone or tablet device.

Accelerated mobile pages sounds like this is going to be a complicated undertaking but, it’s easy if you take it step by step. In our beginner’s guide for hoteliers, we’re going to share the basics of AMP so you know exactly how to leverage this technology in your hotel website designs to increase direct bookings.

So, how did AMP come about, and what does it mean for your hotel’s SEO efforts?


What does AMP do?

Accelerated mobile pages have been developed and implemented to help content to be delivered faster and more efficiently than ever before for mobile devices. As more and more web browsers turn to mobile for their hotel bookings, this is understandably an important development for hoteliers. While traditional web pages are often notoriously slow to load for mobile-users, AMP offers a new solution for content publishers. This isn’t a replacement for your desktop site – AMP publishers need to be aware that a desktop version of their pages is still required in addition to their AMP HTML adaptation for those users who do still prefer to go online from a laptop or desktop computer.

AMP is not without its limitations. Whilst created with the hope of providing both speed and readability, there are understandably some visible limitations prompted by this shift towards speed, meaning images can be a little slower to appear and no JavaScript or un-streamlined CSS is possible for adopters.

In essence, to ensure you continually increase your Google search visibility, it is vital to make AMP a part of your strategy moving forward. This means creating an AMP version of your content, which is achievable with varying degrees of complexity depending on the CMS you currently use. AMP functionality should nonetheless be key amongst your considerations to help keep your content mobile-ready and future-proof for the changing demands of Google search. The importance of AMP is heightened for hoteliers who gain visitors from their blog or news section, so a proactive approach is required.

The AMP design principles are clearly outlined on the official AMP Project webpage, making it simpler to get to work on making your content as speedy and mobile friendly as possible. With a clear focus on clean hotel website designs and efficiency in every choice on each page, AMP will keep your hotel website ahead of the pack by providing instant load times which will impress even the most time-strapped of hotel guests seeking to read your online content or make a quick booking.