How to Find the AMP Version of Your Squarespace Blog
If you want your website to rank higher on Google, turning on the AMP version of your Squarespace blog can make a big difference in site speed, which is one of the ranking factors. However, turning on AMP can cause some content, such as code blocks, to not render. Therefore, it is essential to preview and find the AMP version of your Squarespace blog.
This process isn’t super straight forward. This article will cover what AMP stands for, why it’s important, if you should turn the AMP version of your Squarespace blog on, and how to preview that version of your website to determine if you are happy with the content displayed. If you aren’t sure about turning on AMP, be sure to consult with a Squarespace SEO specialist.
Table of Contents
What is an AMP version of a website?
AMP stands for “accelerated mobile page”. These are mobile pages that are stripped of some styling elements and load in under one second. Google prioritizes websites with fast site speed, so enabling AMP on your Squarespace blog may give you an advantage against your competitors and improve your SEO.
Should I use AMP on Squarespace?
To make your website pages load in under a second, AMP pages are often stripped of styling elements such as CSS and JavaScript. While this will improve the page load time and provide an excellent user experience, it may have undesirable effects.
When to use AMP on Squarespace
If you are on the “personal plan” and haven’t installed any plugins or JavaScript, you may benefit from enabling the AMP function. Keep in mind this is a global function, so it will apply to all your blogs, not just your main blog. Sometimes I use the blog feature to create additional pages for my clients such as news feed, recent press, testimonial sliders, and more.
What are the downsides of AMP & when not to use AMP on Squarespace
If you have installed any plugins or JavaScript, this feature will likely disable too many features. For example, on this blog, the AMP pages removed some custom plugins and JavaScript that I felt were too essential:
The “back to blog” breadcrumbs on the top
My affiliate disclaimer (this was the most important for legal reasons)
Some global sections I set up with the Section Supreme plugin (such as my author bio and email CTA)
Announcement bar
This is one of my blog posts without AMP
This is the same blog post with AMP.
While I don’t mind the CSS being stripped, because the page is super easy to read, I do need some of those JavaScript features available for my visitors.
How to find and preview your AMP pages
If you’d like to see what your blog pages would look like with AMP enabled, simply add this piece of text at the end of any blog post (on your mobile phone):
?format=amp
For example, this blog URL would look like this:
Regular URL: https://www.websitesbykhara.com/blog/get-your-website-to-show-up-on-google
AMP Version: https://www.websitesbykhara.com/blog/get-your-website-to-show-up-on-google?format=amp
How do I know if my website is AMP? How to Enable or Disable AMP on Your Squarespace Blog
It’s very simple! Just go to Settings > Blog Preferences and scroll to the bottom and toggle on “Use AMP”. Here is the Squarespace help article on how to use the AMP features.
Does AMP increase SEO?
Yes, it does! Google ranks websites with a better user experience higher. A fast loading page will rank higher then a slower loading page. AMP pages are lightning fast! These pages will rank higher then your non-AMP pages. As long as turning AMP on doesn’t strip your blog posts from essential Javascript, enabling AMP will improve your SEO.
If your Squarespace website is not showing up on Google, I recommend my article on How to Get Your Website to Show Up on Google followed by my DIY Squarespace SEO checklist.
Need some Squarespace SEO help? Reach out to me to learn more about my Squarespace SEO packages.
