How to Optimize AMP Stories for Google Search Results
An official set of recommendations concerning SEO for AMP stories is now available from the AMP Open Source Project.
AMP stories are similar to stories on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The key difference is they can be indexed and displayed in Google Search results.
See: AMP Stories Now Have a Dedicated Section in Google Search Results
AMP stories are just like other web pages in the sense that they have a URL on your web server, they are linkable, and they can link out to other web pages.
Flavio Palandri Antonelli, a Software Engineer at Google, states:
“In particular, just like other pages on your site, make sure your Stories are linked from within your website so that your users and bots can actually discover them. If you are using a sitemap, make sure to include your Stories in that sitemap. If you are posting your regular web pages to social media, post your Stories as well. We could go on here, but the gist really comes down to: Follow the best practices you’re already applying to the rest of your website.”
See: Official AMP Plugin for WordPress Now Supports AMP Stories
AMP stories should be optimized like any other page on your website. What works for regular web pages will also work for AMP stories
With that said, there are some SEO tactics specific to AMP stories that can be utilized as well.
Specific SEO Tactics for AMP Stories
Here are the SEO tactics specific to AMP stories. Keep in mind these tactics aren’t comprehensive and should be utilized in conjunction with the standard SEO work being done for your web pages.
- Metadata: AMP stories have a built-in mechanism to attach metadata to a story. This ensures maximum compatibility with search engines and other discovery features that take advantage of metadata.
- Internal linking: Site owners should generously link to AMP stories from other pages, such as linking to them from the homepage or category pages where applicable.
- URL format: There is no need to indicate in the URL of a story that it is using the AMP stories format. Follow the same URL format as other web pages on your site.
- Page attachments: Page attachments can be used to present additional information in classic article form alongside your story.
- Image descriptions: Use meaningful alt text where appropriate.
- Video subtitles: Consider providing subtitles and/or captions for the videos in your Stories.
Source: blog.amp.dev
