Amp.dev — why is this so important? This is because in order to make the Internet more “optimized”, for mobile, Google has undertaken a great project called Google amp, which stands for accelerated mobile pages.
Basically, it creates a shadow copy of everything published, if you have the Google amp plug-in enabled. And, Google will prioritize your website in terms of search engine results, bringing you closer to the top, assuming that your website is Google amp enabled.
No, why does google amp get so much critique? Essentially because if you don’t play well by googles rules, google why not to prioritize you. Some people called this “unfair”,” in just, however, that is not the case. If Google did not exist in the first place, nobody would find your website in the first place.
for example when it comes to myself, in the past when I still had analytics enabled, it looks like at least 80% of people who discovered me was through a simple Google search for street photography. First, I believed it to be Facebook, but it was not the case. Certainly not Twitter, which accounted for less than half a percent of my website traffic.
There are many upsides to Google amp. For example, it does actually make your website considerably faster, especially when people are accessing your websites from mobile, or slower Internet connections, slower Wi-Fi connections, or slower 3G or 2G edge Internet.
Now, how does Google make your website “worse” with Google amp? Things don’t work that well with Google amp. A lot of the plug-ins for your WordPress or website break or don’t work, and also, you lose a little bit of control on how to display your images, videos, etc.
The best leverage I’ve discovered is do not enable google amp for your desktop website, only enable to “reader view”. This means that if somebody finds your website through their smart phone, via a Google search, then let Google amp do its thing.
Also, I’ve discovered that with Google amp, your featured images actually show up better in the mobile search results. This is a big deal, because we are more attracted to images than we are text.
How to dominate the internet
Currently, what we are witnessing and seeing is a jockeying of the Internet; everyone wants to become the ultimate master and lord of the Internet.
For example, Facebook‘s initiative for internet.org, which essentially gives everyone access to free Internet, free smart phones, etc., albeit it is through the Facebook app and portal. My personal thought is better to have access to a stunted Internet, through Facebook, for free, than nothing. Especially for those living in extreme poverty.
Now, for the rest of us, those privileged and rich elites, even the “middle class” of America, even the poor class of America, we should know better. For example, if you could afford a Netflix subscription, you can afford to build your own self hosted wordpress.org website with bluehost.com