Google will start linking to Accelerated Mobile Pages on Feb 24, Buzzfeed, WSJ readying sites

With February coming to an end, Google’s deadline for the launch of its industry effort to speed up and improve mobile web pages is nearing. According to AdAge, Accelerated Mobile Pages will launch on February 24 with BuzzFeed, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post also launching AMP ready sites.

Specifically, Google will begin displaying AMP sites in search results next week. AMP loads 85% faster than traditional mobile web pages, according to Google. Testing done by Pinterest has shown AMP sites load four times faster and use eight times less data. Publishers hope that AMP will encourage more people to read from the mobile web. Support for paywalls and other subscription sites was added in time for the launch.

While websites will be able to display ads on AMP, those that take over the entire screen are not allowed, nor are ads that force users to watch a video before getting access to the content they actually want to see.

AMP was announced in October of last year with Google saying it will begin displaying AMP sites in Google Search results in late February. A number of messaging apps will begin linking to AMP pages, while Twitter will begin experimenting with AMP pages from publishers sometime at the beginning of this year. Publishers can learn more about enabling AMP on the project’s page.