Upcoming removal of AMP in Ghost 6.0: What you need to know

[RyanF]

We’re removing the AMP integration in Ghost 6.0. Users will begin seeing inline messaging about our intent to remove AMP in upcoming versions of Ghost.

We share some background info and reasons behind removing AMP below.

What’s AMP?

AMP (formerly “Accelerated Mobile Pages”) was initially launched by Google in 2015. It was intended to speed up web page loading on mobile devices. However, advances in web tech and other changes have made AMP irrelevant.

Why is it being removed from Ghost?

1. Advancements in web dev: Web tech has gotten really good at building lightning-fast web pages, and mobile browsers are much more efficient. These advancements mean that websites can be faster than AMP, making its use unnecessary.
2. SEO: Initially, Google prioritized AMP in results. However, it’s no longer a ranking factor. This change means websites can achieve good search engine rankings based on overall performance and user experience rather than relying on AMP.
3. Limitations on design and functionality: To achieve performance benefits, AMP restricts HTML, CSS, and JS usage. This hinders brand identity and site functionality, and, if you were using custom AMP templates, forces you to maintain them in your theme.
4. User experience: AMP pages are often served from Google’s cache, leading to issues with branding (URLs displaying a Google domain) and potentially creating a disjointed user experience.
5. Decreased adoption: Many publishers (Vox, Buzzfeed, Washington Post) and websites (Twitter/X, Search Engine Land) have already dropped support for AMP.

The TL;DR here is that we’re dropping AMP because it no longer provides performance or SEO benefits, offers a worse user experience, and diverts our attention away from developing other features.

What do I need to do?

Nothing at the moment. Check whether AMP is enabled on your site by going to Settings → Integrations → AMP. Disable AMP now to prepare for the removal in Ghost 6.0.

We’ll provide additional guidance as we approach Ghost 6.0. If you have any additional questions about removing AMP, please share them below.

[pops]

If we’ve been using it and turn it off, how will that affect site indexing and potential impact for SEO?

[RyanF]

All things being equal, you should see no change in SEO. Here are some resources on the question:

• Here’s Google Search’s John Mueller saying that AMP isn’t a ranking factor
• A nice overview from Search Engine Journal on AMP and SEO
• The analytics company Plausible provides a good summary of the situation

With that being said, Ghost sites can be fairly unique, with custom routing, custom themes, or other special configuration options. Therefore, it’s wise to monitor analytics closely after turning off AMP to assess whether any additional changes need to be made.

[DanHakimi]

Amen. Amp was a pox on the internet, and I’m happy to see it’s dying.

[ChrisM]

@RyanF How close are we to Ghost 6.0?

[RyanF]

No ETA yet. Any updates will be posted to the Forum!

[BillBennett]

How does this affect Ghost Pro?

[ajfriesen]

I deactivated it long time ago because I often want to see the real page.
My viewers should not have that painful experience with AMP.
Thanks for cleaning up!

[block]

“Killed by Google” strikes again

[RyanF]

There’s nothing different here for self-hosters vs Ghost(Pro).

[epinardscaramel]

That’s great news! ⠀

[Colwynn_Design]

After disabling AMP, what will happen with existing backlinks using the amp url? Do I need to add redirects for them all?