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How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

markosaric.com

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Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#11

Post by donohoe »

maxaf wrote: post #7

> Don't use Google search. This is easier said than done, as the other search engines are still not as good as Google, even though Google's results have been getting worse. This may be a controversial opinion, but it's not what my comment is about. I'm going to make a more scandalous suggestion. Don't use search engines at all. The idea that a centralized one-size-fits-all search engine is necessary is preposterous.…

Try: https://www.startpage.com/

It uses Google search, but privacy on level of DuckDuckGo.

Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#13

Post by RobertRoberts »

thejohnconway wrote: post #4
RobertRoberts wrote: post #2

I think there needs to be a real alternate solution from Google for longer term change. (if Google wants to stay relevant) Can they just penalize slow/large file size sites in their index? This seems like the underlying goal behind AMP and Chrome's Lighthouse (site audit tool) any way. This would make a lot of sites fast in the next couple months. But maybe Google doesn't really want that?

> Can they just penalize slow/large file size sites in their index? Well, that would be bad for the independent web, wouldn't it? I mean, you'd be penalising sites with large amounts of content, that aren't on a CDN. Large images or videos, for example, might be the entire point of the page in the first place. I don't want to be directed to to a webpage about an artist (for example) that has the crappiest, smallest a…

Html and elements already have the ability to serve larger or smaller images (srcset) based on your browser's perception of your network performance.

I agree with the other comment here replying to you. In the olden days people had to explicitly link to larger content. Isn't that was AMP does anyway?

Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#14

Post by a3n »

maxaf wrote: post #7

> Don't use Google search. This is easier said than done, as the other search engines are still not as good as Google, even though Google's results have been getting worse. This may be a controversial opinion, but it's not what my comment is about. I'm going to make a more scandalous suggestion. Don't use search engines at all. The idea that a centralized one-size-fits-all search engine is necessary is preposterous.…

The web is large, and my processor is so very, very small.

Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#16

Post by justinph »

I agree with all of this, but until google provides a way to appear in the discover box without having AMP-published pages, this is a non-starter for publishers. Ironically, by creating AMP, google has disincentivized publishers from making their canonical pages faster.

Publishers hate that google holds them hostage with AMP in this manner, but the situation is what it is, until someone from the Justice Department starts making the lords of Mountain View antsy.

Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#17

Post by RobertRoberts »

donohoe wrote: post #9
RobertRoberts wrote: post #2

I think there needs to be a real alternate solution from Google for longer term change. (if Google wants to stay relevant) Can they just penalize slow/large file size sites in their index? This seems like the underlying goal behind AMP and Chrome's Lighthouse (site audit tool) any way. This would make a lot of sites fast in the next couple months. But maybe Google doesn't really want that?

Yes - they do this. Slow web pages is a big signal (out of many) in SEO.

AMP demotivates page speed performance improvements though. (ie, AMP > page speed for ranking)

Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#18

Post by bla3 »

I like AMP. It's possible to write fast websites without it, and I do do that for my sites. For for big, non-tech sites AMP has provided sufficient motivation to offer a fast version. Nothing else has managed to do this before. I'd rather have fast AMP pages of all those news sites than having to load the slow default view. Experience suggests that the options aren't "fast with AMP or fast without AMP", but "fast or slow". It's for incentive reasons, not for technical reasons, but I'm still glad the fast version exists.

Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#19

Post by maxaf »

a3n wrote: post #14
maxaf wrote: post #7

> Don't use Google search. This is easier said than done, as the other search engines are still not as good as Google, even though Google's results have been getting worse. This may be a controversial opinion, but it's not what my comment is about. I'm going to make a more scandalous suggestion. Don't use search engines at all. The idea that a centralized one-size-fits-all search engine is necessary is preposterous.…

The web is large, and my processor is so very, very small.

If you're one of "the little guys" with a niche website or blog, you already host it somewhere that serves Web traffic. Answering federated search requests cannot possibly be more expensive than that, considering that your niche website or blog doesn't have more than a few megabytes of actual information.

If you're purely a consumer, I don't see how your equipment has anything to do with search at all. Searching using one system isn't more expensive than using another.

Re: How to fight back against Google AMP as a web user and a web developer

#20

Post by mlok »

maxaf wrote: post #7

> Don't use Google search. This is easier said than done, as the other search engines are still not as good as Google, even though Google's results have been getting worse. This may be a controversial opinion, but it's not what my comment is about. I'm going to make a more scandalous suggestion. Don't use search engines at all. The idea that a centralized one-size-fits-all search engine is necessary is preposterous.…

!bangs in DuckDuckGo enables you to do searches right on the destination website

https://duckduckgo.com/bang

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