AMP URLs will soon drop the ‘google.com/amp’ prefix and display the full address of the original publisher.
The URLs of all AMPs in Google search currently begin with ‘google.com/amp’ because the pages are loaded from the Google AMP Cache rather than the publisher’s server. This setup allows Google to control the AMP experience and ensure the pages remain consistently fast.
Publishers have long been dissatisfied with the Google prefix— it’s the top piece of feedback Google receives about AMP. Google has issued a fix in its Search app that causes AMP URLs to default to publisher URLs. Now it’s rolling out a similar fix for mobile web browsers.
Google explains the technical details of its solution:
“As recommended by the W3C TAG, we intend to implement a new version of AMP Cache serving based on the emerging Web Packaging standard.”
The new web standard will enable publisher URLs to remain intact on accelerated mobile pages, while still benefiting from the speed of Google’s servers.
“We have built a prototype based on the Chrome Browser and an experimental version of Google Search to ensure it delivers both the desired user experience and performance in real use cases.”
Google’s next step is to fully implement the new web standard in web browsers and the Google AMP Cache. The changes should be in place by the second half of 2018.
