SEO, Mobile First Index and AMP

[JesterMagic]

With the mobile first index about to hit in the next few months I have been looking into AMP.

I have a couple of sites that are information with images that display ads and some affiliate stuff. Both use responsive themes. One site I would have develop a custom solution for it (based on an open source PHP class) and the other sites I can purchase an AMP plugin for the CMS and work from there. So to get AMP up and running on all my sites would require some work.

From my understanding there currently is no ranking benefit for having AMP pages. Do people think this will change with the mobile first index? When looking at AMP pages on my phone of some popular sites in some cases I would rather have the responsive page. The user experience is worse as it is either stripped down too much and/or the ad placement is horrible. I am not against ads as it is my business but I also worry about getting a worse CTR if I use AMP (as I have read some people have had).

Will AMP stay around long? I've seen things come and go and am wondering if AMP will be one of them especially something that can be solved by improvements in technology. Phones and bandwidth are getting faster and screens are bigger now days (with foldable screens apparently coming). Will AMP disappear in a couple more years or do people see it hanging around?

I am wondering if I should wait and see what happens with the mobile first index or should I just go ahead and take the plunge.

[keyplyr]

From my understanding there currently is no ranking benefit for having AMP pages. Do people think this will change with the mobile first index?

Since the Mobile-first Index will use the mobile site's speed performance as a factor, I assume AMP getting a boost because of it.

Will AMP stay around long?

Unlike some of Google's come & go projects, I don't see them actually removing support since thousands of webpages are using this format now. However, I don't think AMP will ever achieve the usage Google wanted.

[seoskunk]

Since AMP is google technology I highly doubt they will be allowed to boost there own technology in the SERPS, well not without another lawsuit.

[nomis5]

I certainly wouldn't at the moment. It would be akin to suicide if G started pushing AMP to the point where it affected the SERPS to a significant degree.

They have forced many to change from http to https but that is a relatively easy change.

Forcing people to change to AMP is a hugely different ball game. 80% of webmasters wouldn't have a clue on how to achieve that.

[NickMNS]

The main benefit of AMP is the inclusion in the AMP carousel. I believe that this is only implemented in Google News but i'm not sure. With the carousel the concept of "ranking first" is eliminated, as users will be able to swipe through the carousel to quickly see all that is contained. And bounce back and forth between the pages and the carousel. So, if your site is not AMP you cannot be included, therefore there is an implicit advantage AMP in that regard.

Otherwise what Keyplyr says is true, AMP's speed performance will give a boost, but if you are able to achieve the same performance without AMP then there is no benefit in that regard.

[JesterMagic]

Thanks for all the replies.

Since the Mobile-first Index will use the mobile site's speed performance as a factor, I assume AMP getting a boost because of it.

I had wondered about that as well and is one of the reasons I was considering doing it as the speed of my sites could use an improvement.

[MayankParmar]

I am using AMP on one of my sites only to decrease my AdSense earnings.

Since AMP is google technology I highly doubt they will be allowed to boost there own technology in the SERPS, well not without another lawsuit.

But sites on top stories appear only when they have AMP?

[Lake]

The only reason I'm not using AMP for one of my main sites is because my ad network advised against it due to lower earnings.
It'll probably change in the future like it did with HTTPS.