amp and the election by jeffrey preston

#SMX #11A @jeffreypreston


• AMP and non-news content• AMP and the election

AMP


In late 2016 Babble.compublishes non-news articles on AMP• Dec 2016: AMP is 20% mobile

search visits• Mar 2017: AMP is 45% mobile

search visits

AMP – Non-news content


• Whenever we introduced too many errors we were booted out of AMP results immediately

• When errors fixed, AMP re-inclusion was immediate

AMP – Errors – Harsh but Fair


Lessons learned:• Ad impressions varied on AMP vs. mobile based on placement • Traffic shifted from mobile web to AMP• We did not experience any ranking boost from using AMP• We did not experience any traffic gains• Easy to fail validation test

AMP – Non-news content


Pros:• Very fast mobile experience• Inclusion in SERP-top carouselsCons:• Constant care needed to keep code validated• Tracking/attribution difficult for in-house metrics• Ads and video ads can be difficult to tune

AMP – Pros and Cons for non-news content


• Many US news sites were publishing election articles to AMP• AMP results did not always win the most clicks• SERPs changed frequently during primaries, debates, and

election day

AMP – Election 2016 Case Study



Event: Republican debate (Trump vs. Cruz, etc.)Query: RepublicanDate: January 14, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Live blog2. News box



Event: Democratic debates (Hillary vs. Bernie)Query: Democratic debatesDate: February 4, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Live blog2. Organic listing



Event: Presidential primariesQuery: Presidential primariesDate: March 8, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Organic listing2. Organic listing3. News carousel4. Live blog



Event: Presidential primariesQuery: new york primaryDate: April 19, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Organic listing2. Organic listing3. News carousel4. Live blog



Event: Presidential primariesQuery: new york primaryDate: April 19, 2016 (Later that night)Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Answer box2. Organic listing3. AMP carousel



Event: First presidential debate (Clinton vs. Trump)Query: First presidential debateDate: September 26, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. News carousel2. Live blog carousel



Event: First presidential debate (Clinton vs. Trump)Query: debateDate: September 26, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. News carousel2. Live blog carousel



Event: First presidential debate (Clinton vs. Trump)Query: presidential debateDate: September 26, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Twitter carousel2. Live blog carousel



Event: Final presidential debate (Clinton vs. Trump)Query: debateDate: October 19, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Knowledge graph2. Streaming YouTube thumbnail3. AMP carousel



Event: Election day (Clinton vs. Trump)Query: Elections w/autosuggestDate: November 8, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Knowledge graph



Event: Election day (Clinton vs. Trump)Query: 2016 US election resultsDate: November 8, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Knowledge graph



Event: Election day (Clinton vs. Trump)Query: electionsDate: November 8, 2016Above-the-fold SERP:

1. Knowledge graph



Election lessons learned:• Live Blog results ranked higher than AMP earlier in the election• AMP showed up on election day below the fold• Google knowledge graph pushed AMP, Live Blog, and organic

listings below the fold• Recommendation: Publish both AMP and Live Blog for best

visibility


Want to try AMP?

Please note:§ AMP is fast§ Constant challenge to keep AMP code validated§ AMP project is constantly evolving

If you work for big company:§ Analytics/business intelligence teams don’t like AMP§ Expect pushback from engineering about the new code stack to maintain§ Expect ROI questions from executives


Thank you!

Jeff PrestonLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypreston/Twitter: @jeffreypreston


SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX!

THANK YOU!

amp and the election by jeffrey preston

Marketing