Should you really let go of AMP for your SEO strategy?

Why is Google releasing this guide now?

Google officially recognizes that many sites wish to move away from AMP and provides a procedure to do so cleanly. This positioning marks a turning point: the company that promoted AMP as the mobile performance standard for years now admits that abandoning it is a legitimate option.

The publication of this guide reflects a ground reality. The Core Web Vitals have replaced AMP as the mobile performance criteria over several algorithm cycles. Well-optimized non-AMP sites perform just as well, if not better, in mobile search results.

What has changed in Google's approach to AMP?

The Top Stories carousel has not required AMP for several months. This shift has eliminated the main competitive advantage of the format. Publishers who maintained AMP solely to access this premium space can now discontinue it without losing visibility.

Google now treats AMP as just another technical implementation. The engine awards no ranking bonus to AMP pages compared to their standard HTML counterparts. Only actual performance, measured through the Core Web Vitals, counts in the equation.

What are the technical risks of a poorly managed migration?

A sudden removal of AMP generates massive 404 errors if AMP URLs are still indexed or linked from external sources. Google will continue to crawl these URLs for weeks, creating negative signals in the Search Console.

Improperly configured canonical tags remain a classic pitfall. If your AMP pages pointed to themselves as canonical instead of pointing to the HTML version, their removal leaves a referencing gap. Indexing may then favor unwanted versions or duplicate content.

• Mandatory 301 redirect: every AMP URL must redirect to its standard HTML equivalent
• Tag audit: check that all canonicals point to the correct final versions
• Search Console monitoring: track 404 errors and index coverage changes for 3-4 weeks
• Sitemap update: remove AMP URLs and submit only the HTML versions
• Backlink verification: identify incoming links to /amp/ to contact source sites if strategic

Is this recommendation consistent with on-the-ground observations?

Absolutely. The organic traffic data I have observed over the past 18 months shows a complete lack of correlation between the presence of AMP and performance in mobile SERPs. Sites that migrated to optimized standard HTML maintain or even improve their positions.

The actual loading time now outweighs the technological label. A slow AMP site (yes, they exist) underperforms compared to a fast HTML site with a good LCP and FID score. Google has shifted the focus from format to metric, making AMP obsolete for most use cases.

What nuances should be added to this advice?

Google remains deliberately vague about the timeline for complete deprecation. The guide exists, but no communication explicitly states, "AMP is dead." This calculated ambiguity keeps some publishers in doubt. [To verify]: the actual impact on very high-traffic sites (10M+ page views/month) that have massively invested in AMP infrastructure.

Some niche cases could still benefit from AMP: news sites with small technical teams using Google's cache as a free CDN, or sites whose mobile audience still relies heavily on unstable 2G/3G connections. But these situations are becoming marginal.

What pitfalls should SEO practitioners beware of during this transition?

The temptation to suddenly remove AMP without a prior audit of indexed URLs. I have seen sites lose 20-30% of mobile traffic for 6 weeks because they disabled AMP on a Friday night without configured redirects. Google needs time to recrawl and re-index.

Another classic mistake: overlooking cached AMP versions. Even after removal on the server side, pages remain accessible via cdn.ampproject.org for weeks. If your old markup pointed to the cache as canonical, you create a phantom referencing conflict.

What should you do concretely before removing AMP?

First, map your existing setup. Export the complete list of indexed AMP URLs via Search Console (filter "amp" in index coverage). Compare it with your AMP sitemap to identify discrepancies. This phase often reveals orphaned URLs or unexpected variants.

Then audit the canonical tags on a representative sample. Check that each AMP page points correctly to its standard HTML version via the rel="canonical" tag. Also inspect the amphtml tags on HTML pages: these should be removed after migration to avoid confusion.

How can you avoid critical errors during the transition?

Set up the 301 redirects before touching the code. Test them manually on 10-15 representative URLs to validate the pattern. A regex error in the redirect could send all your AMP pages to the homepage, creating a massive soft 404.

Never remove AMP templates on a Monday or before a weekend. Choose a Tuesday or Wednesday to monitor the Search Console for 48-72 hours and respond quickly to anomalies. Plan a technical rollback if 404 errors exceed 5% of the indexed volume.

What indicators should you monitor after the migration?

The index coverage in Search Console is your main dashboard. You should see a gradual decline in indexed AMP pages (the green line going down) compensated by stability in HTML pages. If both decline simultaneously, you have a canonicalization problem.

Also monitor the Core Web Vitals of the HTML pages replacing AMP. Your LCP should remain under 2.5s and your CLS under 0.1 to maintain user experience. If your metrics deteriorate, AMP may have masked underlying performance issues that now need fixing.

• Export the complete list of indexed AMP URLs (Search Console → Coverage)
• Check the canonical tags on 20-30 representative AMP pages
• Set up 301 redirects from /amp/ to standard URLs
• Test redirects manually before deployment
• Remove amphtml tags from source HTML pages
• Monitor 404 errors daily for 3 weeks
• Compare Core Web Vitals before/after migration
• Submit the updated HTML sitemap via Search Console