Why we won’t AMP our pages

March 08, 2025 • By KWD

AMP is Google's 2015 project using a restricted HTML subset for faster mobile pages, but it doesn't genuinely solve bloat and instead funnels traffic through Google while compromising content credibility.

Key Takeaways

AMP doesn't actually reduce page bloat; the Google AMP demo was 8x larger than a non-AMP version.
AMP allows fake content generators to appear as credible as genuine providers when served by Google.
All clicks from AMP pages funnel through Google, concentrating control and traffic.
Google's silent removal of www in Chrome 69 defaults creates phishing risks and URL hiding potential.
DATA will not implement AMP due to ethical concerns about Google's true motives and control mechanisms.

The web is full of bloated pages throttling servers with inflated JavaScript frameworks while making the experience frustrating and cumbersome.

To remedy that Google in 2015 proposed the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project, where it had invented its own subset of HTML which caters to the mobile users, promising them that the pages will load faster.

What AMP does is, it strips the pages of content credibility, by restricting good HTML.
Instead of focusing on how to decrease the bulky JavaScript and bloated content, Google proposes its own JavaScript which it loads asynchronously.

Interestingly, AMP doesn't actually address the issue of speed. Pinboard founder Maciej Cegłowski recreated the Google AMP demo page without the Google AMP JavaScript and, not so surprisingly, it's 8 times smaller and way faster than Google's version.

The next logical question is why would Google go all this way to promote AMP? The primary reason gets clearer day by day as traffic hungry publishers and content marketers jump on the AMP bandwagon. The problem is they are almost indistinguishable from the genuine content providers. So, any fake content generator who AMP themselves will look as credible as the genuine content providers, as they are served by Google with preference over others. The clicks all go through Google. That is a serious problem.

Facebook is more dangerous in that matter, but at least they are open about it.

And with the new redesign of Chrome version 69, Google who was so vocal about the change of http to https, silently dropped the 'www' as it considers it as a trivial sub-domain.

Even though it is a setting, the defaults are what the majority stick to. No 'www' might also cause some serious phishing problems where www.somename.com and somename.com can point to two entirely different websites.

It is not a far-fetched future where Google hides the amp sub-domain through which Google serves its AMP pages. As someone said, "And then suddenly the whole world funnels through AMP.” You connect the dots!

In conclusion, we are not convinced that Google is really addressing the elephant in the room, which is the bulky nature of pages, but rather taking advantage of the elephant and promoting its own zoo. We at Kuwait Website Design consider this as unethical conduct and we won't be a part of it and expect Google to set a better example.

P.S: For those who want to disable the setting of not showing www in their Chrome browsers can paste the below flag setting into the address bar of Chrome and change the default option to disabled.

chrome://flags/#omnibox-ui-hide-steady-state-url-scheme-and-subdomains

Frequently Asked Questions

AMP is a restricted HTML subset Google proposed in 2015 to speed up mobile pages. However, it doesn't genuinely address page bloat; instead, it loads Google's own JavaScript asynchronously while restricting standard HTML.

No. A non-AMP recreation of Google's own AMP demo page was 8 times smaller and faster than Google's AMP version, proving AMP doesn't solve the speed problem.

AMP makes fake content generators appear indistinguishable from genuine providers because Google serves all AMP pages with preference, giving dishonest sites the same apparent credibility as legitimate ones.

www.somename.com and somename.com can point to entirely different websites, creating serious phishing risks when users cannot distinguish the subdomain in the address bar.

DATA considers AMP an unethical conduct by Google that concentrates traffic control rather than genuinely solving page bloat, and expects Google to set a better example.