Twitter is removing support for AMP links and instead directing users to the publisher’s original webpage.
The company confirms that this change will take effect by the end of the year.
In an updated developer document about AMP pages, Twitter states that it is currently discontinuing the format.
“We are in the process of discontinuing support for this feature and it will be discontinued completely in the fourth quarter of 2021.”
An SEO named Cristian Oliveira discovered the updated document after Twitter user David Esteve said he noticed a lack of support for AMP pages dating back to mid-October.
It looks like: https://t.co/DPREUpjZAP pic.twitter.com/a1DI92h1kr
– Christian Oliveira (@christian_wilde) November 17, 2021
Since Twitter is “in the process” of dropping AMP support, it’s possible that the format has been deprecated on some sites already.
After 2021, Twitter will stop posting everyone Users of AMP pages.
What does this mean for websites with AMP pages?
Websites that publish AMP versions of their pages can continue to do so, and links can still be shared on Twitter.
The only thing that changes is where Twitter will direct traffic.
Instead of landing on a stripped-down AMP page, Twitter will send users to the original publisher URL
If you own or work for a website that publishes AMP pages, there is no obligation for you to comply with this change.
Links to AMP pages will still work on Twitter. It’s not like it will send users to broken pages, so you don’t have to worry about 301 redirects for all your AMP URLs.
Whether to continue to support the format on your end is a personal choice.
There is no inherent benefit in creating web pages with AMP HTML. It’s an easy way to publish content that’s fast and easy to navigate, but this can be accomplished without resorting to AMP.
Google maintains that AMP is not a ranking factor, so it is not necessary to use it from an SEO point of view.
It’s getting harder to make the case for publishing AMP pages, especially after what’s happened with it over the past year.
Google itself is gradually phasing out AMP from a number of places where it was once prominent.
Here’s a rundown of some recent developments in case you missed it.
Related: Ranking AMP Impact in Google Top News, Discovery and Organic Search
Google progressive out AMP
With the launch of the Page Experience Refresh, Google has made a number of changes that indicate that it is trying to move away from AMP.
Google’s first step towards phasing out AMP was when it removed the lightning bolt icon from search results.
AMP pages are less obvious to show up in mobile search results, but they are able to rank like any other type of web page.
Google has reinforced its efforts to move away from AMP by removing it as a requirement for pages appearing in the Top Stories carousel library.
To be clear, AMP pages have not been removed from the library. It is still eligible to appear, but will be combined with normal HTML pages.
Google’s most recent step toward phasing out AMP occurred last September when the company announced that it would show non-AMP content more regularly in Google News.
Similar to the change to the Top Stories library, AMP pages are still eligible to appear in Google News, but users now see plain HTML pages more often.
Additionally, Google News sends users directly to publisher URLs, rather than displaying them in the app.
This update was supposed to roll out with the page experience update, but it ended up being delayed by a few months.
Via Google, and soon Twitter, users are less likely to land on AMP pages.
As a result, publishers will get more traffic to their original URLs, as they can take advantage of features that would have been removed from the AMP version.
Source: Twitter developer platform
Featured image: Bakhtiar Zain/Shutterstock
