Google has urged all website owners to serve the AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) versions of their website. At first, it did not go down well with so many big websites with thousands of blog post.

Needless to say, it is the safest and smartest choice for everyone with a new website. Before you publish any post, it is better to serve the AMP version of your website. In order to avoid any complications that may arise from switching to AMP.

In this guide, I will explain all the steps involved in setting up Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) in WordPress, and why it is the smartest thing to do if you have a new website.

You will also learn how to track your page views by adding your Google Analytics tracking code to the AMP version of your website.

At first, I was caught up in the mist, after reading a few publications by others not buying into the idea of adding Google AMP to their site or not in full support of the initiative.

After doing my own study, I have come up with a conclusion that, it is all to gain and nothing to lose. Especially if you have a website with not too many pages.

Even if you have a lot of pages, serving the AMP version of your website shouldn’t be something so terrifying. In a few days or weeks, the AMP versions of your pages would get indexed – those that meet up with Google AMP requirement.

So, the earlier you get it done, the better. And I’ll explain why.

Reasons to Setup AMP in WordPres

I have covered this in an earlier publication. However, I will still go on and highlight few of the reasons you need to setup AMP for your WordPress site.

Your website will be served from Google AMP Cache and as a result, everyone visiting your website from a mobile device can view it in one click. This will greatly improve the UX of your website.

As we all know, a faster website is one of the ranking factors at Google. So, your website will rank higher for mobile searches. Study has it that around half of internet users surf the net using a mobile device (this figure is projected to increase further).

So, this means that serving your website on a Google AMP version will help satisfy a greater percentage of your visitors. Google accounts for up to 80% of organic traffic for most websites.

If that’s the case for you, then you must embrace their initiatives early enough, so you can be among the early beneficiaries of the goodies to follow suite. Most website owners battle with improving the speed of their websites. Google AMP provides solution to that.

How to set up Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for a WordPress website

Setting up AMP for your WordPress Website is really easy. Even a web newbie can get it done in minutes. If you interested in serving your website in AMP version, this tutorial will take you through the steps involved.

step 1: Install and activate AMP for WordPress by Automattic.

You can install it using any of the methods for installing WordPress plugins from our previous guide.

step 2: configure AMP design and styling

.

After installing, it should be located in your WordPress dashboard (appearance menu). Click on AMP.

The AMP version of your website will also make use of your website’s favicon, if it is supported by your theme.

Configure the colors and hit the ‘publish’ button.

Step 3: Test newly installed AMP by typing yourdomainname/blog-post/amp/ into your browser. Preferably, a mobile device. It should be displayed like what you saw on the preview during customization.

Step 4: troubleshoot if you get a 404 error.

All you have to do is visit ‘settings>>permalinks’. You don’t have to change your permalink structure. Just do nothing and hit the save button. This will help you refresh your permalink code on .htaccess and resolve any 404 issues.

How to add Google Analytics to AMP

It’s nice to know that you have proceeded this far. Now, the next thing you need to do is to add Google Analytics tracking code to the AMP version of your website.

step 1: Install and configure WordPress SEO plugin by yoast. We have this covered in our previous guide. If you have done this before, then just skip to the next step

Step 2: Install and activate Glue for Yoast and AMP.

Step 3: configure and design Glue for Yoast and AMP

After installing Glue for Yoast and AMP, in your WordPress dashboard, hover your cursor on Yoast. It should be located under your Yoast icon.

click on ‘Post types’ to include or remove posts from AMP.

Once you are done adding, hit the ‘Save changes’ button.

You can also change the design and colors of your AMP version by clicking on the ‘Design’ button.

Step 4: Add Google analytics to your AMP version.

If you have Previously set up a Google Analytics account, all you have to do is copy and paste your analytics code into the space provided and hit the ‘Save changes’ button.

That’s everything about setting up Google AMP on a WordPress website.

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter to get access to future AdSense and WordPress tutorials faster than anyone else.