Google: Goodbye Flash, Hello AMP

This month, Google bid an official adieu to Flash and welcomed AMP to the entire web – two significant changes for website owners and users alike.

The king of search is making these shifts with one goal in mind: to make the web faster. Specifically, the mobile web, which now accounts for nearly 60 percent of searches.

Flash, which has been making a slow exit ever since its exile from iOS, will be blocked in Google Chrome come September.

The browser will favor a pure HTML5 experience, which loads sites faster and saves battery life. Users can still view your Flash content, but they will have to “opt-in” from Google Chrome.

If your website still uses Flash, then now is a good time to consider updating the content to HTML5.

Again, if the user is on an iOS device, he or she will not be able to view your Flash content anyway. (Read: Flash is done. Stick a fork in it.)

Google Accelerated Mobile Pages

In keeping with its goal of delivering a faster web experience, Google also opened up its Accelerated Mobile Pages, known as AMPs, to everyone on the web.

AMP content, primarily articles, loads in less than one second and consumes 10 times less data than normal web pages.

Websites with AMP content (it requires you to strip many of the tags) will show up in search results with a lightning bolt next to the blue link. Google emphasized AMPs are not ranked higher in search engine results.

If you have challenges with bounce rate on your articles, though, then AMPs could be your answer to less abandonment and higher engagement.

One caveat: Google AMPs load inside the search engine’s platform, not on your own site, so you’ll need separate, non-AMP (HTML5, perhaps?) content for your own site to promote through other channels.

Will you be abandoning your Flash content or upgrading to AMP? Let us know what you think in the comments.