As you’re probably aware, Google AMP is a project that aims to improve the performance of mobile web pages. One way it does this is by allowing websites to serve their content using AMP-compliant HTML.
WordPress is one of the many platforms that now support AMP, and in this article, we’ll show you how to optimize your WordPress site for Google AMP.
Let’s get started!
1. Configure Your Site for AMP
The first thing you need to do is configure your WordPress site to output AMP-compliant HTML. You can do this by installing and activating the official AMP plugin from Automattic. Once activated, the plugin will add AMP-specific code to your website’s pages and posts.
2. Optimize Your Images for AMP
Google recommends that you optimize your images for AMP by using the srcset attribute. This attribute allows you to specify multiple versions of an image, and the browser will then choose the appropriate version based on the user’s screen size.
To add the srcset attribute to your images, you can use a plugin like WP Retina 2x. This plugin will automatically generate retina-ready versions of your images and insert the srcset attribute into your AMP-compliant HTML.
3. Use AMP-Compatible Widgets
If you’re using any widgets on your WordPress site, you’ll need to make sure they’re compatible with AMP. For example, the popular Jetpack plugin has an AMP module that allows you to output your jetpack-powered widgets using AMP-compliant HTML.
4. Minimize HTTP Requests
One of the best ways to improve the performance of your website is to minimize HTTP requests. This means reducing the number of files that your website has to load when a visitor arrives on your site.
There are a few ways you can reduce HTTP requests on your WordPress site. One is to use a plugin like Autoptimize, which can optimize and concatenate your CSS and JavaScript files. Another is to use a content delivery network (CDN), which will load your website’s static files from multiple servers around the world.
5. Use a Caching Plugin
Caching is another effective way to improve the performance of your WordPress site. When you cache your pages, your server will save a copy of each page that’s been visited. This means that subsequent visitors can load the cached version of the page, which reduces the strain on your server and speeds up the loading time of your pages.
There are many WordPress caching plugins available, but we recommend using one of the following:
- WP Super Cache
- W3 Total Cache
- Comet Cache
Once you’ve installed and activated a caching plugin, you’ll need to configure it to work with AMP. For example, if you’re using W3 Total Cache, you’ll need to enable the AMP page cache module.
6. Use a CDN
As we mentioned earlier, a content delivery network (CDN) can help to speed up the loading time of your pages by loading your static files from multiple servers around the world. This is especially useful if you have visitors from all over the world, as it means they’ll be able to load your pages faster no matter where they are.
There are many WordPress-specific CDNs available, but we recommend using Cloudflare. Cloudflare is a free CDN that’s easy to set up and comes with a number of other performance-enhancing features, such as caching and minification.
7. Monitor Your Site’s Performance
Once you’ve followed all of the steps above, you should have a WordPress site that’s optimized for Google AMP. However, it’s important to monitor your site’s performance to make sure that it continues to meet Google’s standards.
You can use a tool like Pingdom to test the loading time of your pages and identify any areas where you can further improve the performance of your site.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve shown you how to optimize your WordPress site for Google AMP. By following the steps above, you can make sure that your pages are compliant with Google’s standards and that they load as quickly as possible.
In this article, we’ve shown you how to optimize your WordPress site for Google AMP. By following the steps above, you can ensure that your pages are served using AMP-compliant HTML and improve the loading time of your pages.
