How to Properly Set Up Google AMP on Your WordPress Site

If you run a WordPress site, you may have heard about Google AMP and its potential speed benefits.

But is it right for your site? And how do you actually implement it?

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll cover everything you need to know to properly set up and configure Google AMP on your WordPress site.

Why Use AMP in the First Place?

Accelerated Mobile Pages, better known as AMP, is an open-source framework created by Google to optimize content for mobile devices.

The main goal of AMP is simple: Deliver content faster.

Google found the average mobile page takes 15 seconds to load. That‘s far too slow considering:

• 53% of users will abandon a page that takes over 3 seconds to load. (Google)

• Brands can see a 25% increase in revenue by accelerating load times. (Akamai)

By optimizing pages for speed, AMP aims to improve the user experience and engagement on mobile devices.

So how does it actually speed up your site?

AMP works by stripping down HTML, CSS, and JS to the bare essentials. It also serves cached pages from Google‘s servers to bypass your hosting limits.

This means AMP pages load in under 1 second on average.

But faster performance is just one benefit…

Google also favors AMP pages in mobile search results by giving them:

• Top placement in the mobile search carousel

• A lightning bolt icon to denote their speed

Several studies found implementing AMP led to a 10-20% increase in mobile search traffic from Google.

Beyond search, AMP pages also get:

• Integration in platforms like Google News, Discover, and others

• The ability to cache content directly on apps like Facebook

However, achieving these benefits means accepting some limitations.

AMP restricts you to their approved UI components and functionality. You give up design freedom for speed.

Analytics and ads also require additional setup compared to standard WordPress.

Overall, AMP brings huge speed gains which likely outweigh its downsides for content-focused sites. Let‘s look at how to add it.

Step 1: Install the Official AMP Plugin

The first step is installing the official AMP plugin for WordPress.

This plugin adds all required functionality and components to serve AMP pages.

To install:

1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New.

2. Search for ‘AMP‘.

3. Install the ‘AMP‘ plugin by Automattic.

4. Click Activate.

Once activated, the plugin will automatically add AMP markup and libraries to your site.

Let‘s adjust some settings next.

Step 2: Configure Your AMP Settings

The AMP plugin provides a few customization options for how AMP displays on your site:

Navigate to Appearance > AMP in your WP dashboard.

Here are the key settings:

• Header Color – Set the header background color

• Header Text Color – Choose the header text color

• Logo – Upload a logo image for your AMP pages

Review these options and tweak as needed to match your brand.

You can also enable analytics here by just entering your Google Analytics tracking ID. More on analytics later.

Once your AMP settings look good, click Save Changes.

Step 3: View Your AMP Pages

Now that AMP is set up, you can view any post as an AMP page with one small addition:

Simply append /amp/ to the end of your post URL.

For example:

example.com/sample-post/amp/

Load this page and you‘ll see the fast, streamlined AMP version of that post.

Compare the mobile load speed to your normal site – quite a difference!

Test a few different pages to get a feel for how AMP transforms your content.

Step 4: Add AMP Analytics

The built-in analytics won‘t give you complete data on AMP traffic.

For accurate stats, I recommend MonsterInsights – the leading Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.

Here‘s how to set it up:

1. Install MonsterInsights and connect your Google Analytics account.

2. Get the MonsterInsights AMP Addon.

3. Enable the addon under MonsterInsights > Settings.

This automatically fixes AMP tracking issues and provides detailed analytics. Well worth the small investment.

Step 5: Validate Your AMP Content

The final step is validating your AMP content conforms to web standards.

Valid AMP pages get higher placement in search, so this is crucial.

To validate:

1. Go to Google Search Console and click the AMP report.

2. Click "Test Your AMP URL" and enter a post URL with /amp/.

3. Check for errors. Debug as needed until the page passes.

I recommend re-validating any time you modify an AMP page.

Additional Tips and Tricks

Here are some extra pointers as you dive into AMP:

• Add an AMP-specific sitemap to improve indexing. There are plugins like AMP for WP that handle this automatically.

• Use the Yoast SEO AMP addon to customize titles, description, etc. Make sure they‘re relevant.

• Minimize custom fonts and animations. Stick to core AMP components as much as possible.

• Consider an AMP-to-Website overlay like FaithPop to retain traffic to your main site.

• Read up on proper analytics setup for AMP. Many platforms require extra code to work correctly.

Is AMP Right for Your WordPress Site?

Clearly optimizing for mobile speed is crucial today. But AMP does have its tradeoffs.

I recommend AMP most for:

• Content-focused sites rather than interactive web apps.

• Sites with solid mobile traffic and visibility needing an extra edge.

If your mobile presence is already strong, the costs may outweigh benefits.

Either way, I hope this guide gave you a comprehensive overview of properly implementing AMP!

Let me know if you have any other questions.