FAQ

The official AMP plugin is open source and free to use, and always will be! Any extensions that our team develops are also free to download and use for your own WordPress projects.

The plugin converts your existing content to AMP valid content where possible. It inserts boilerplate AMP code into your sites header and provides you with development tools to ensure AMP validity is maintained.

This plugin allows you to use your existing WordPress theme, while benefiting from all the great features AMP brings to a website, for owners and visitors alike, in particular a better performing website that follows modern web standards best practices.

Yes, this plugin allows you to use your existing WordPress theme for your AMP content, provided it is AMP-compatible or if it gracefully degrades when JavaScript is turned off. If you’re using a theme which is not fully AMP compatible you can use the plugin in Reader mode, which ensures you have AMP valid content using one of the reader mode templates. 

For a list of AMP compatible plugins visit the ecosystem section on this site.

For plugins which are not compatible you have options. The plugin’s validation tool ensures invalid markup is automatically removed on your AMP URLs or you can use the plugin’s new Plugin Suppression capability to restrict that plugin’s functionality on AMP pages. 

Alternatively if you require that functionality on your AMP pages you can perform the following actions:

• Contact the developer: In many cases plugins can be easily modified for AMP compatibility using amp-bind or creating fallbacks.
• Look for an AMP-compatible alternative: More and more plugins are becoming AMP compatible. Find some on our ecosystem page. Look for a compatible alternative which offers the same functionality.
• Use an AMP Component: If you’re a developer consider making use of existing AMP Components such as amp-carousel, or for more custom behaviors use components such as amp-bind or amp-script to ensure the non-AMP functionality is also available on AMP pages.
• Invest in development (with your own team, or via agencies or freelancers): Resolving AMP validation errors or plugin incompatibilities can be achieved with some development work. Our support page has additional information. 

Note you also have the option to disable AMP serving on individual pages and posts. Just look for the “Enable AMP” toggle when editing a page or post. This can be useful if you have one specific page which isn’t AMP compatible.

While having AMP active isn’t a ranking factor your website performance is. The AMP plugin helps you achieve an optimized website with a page speed and performance boost. If you have the website active in Standard mode your website is AMP first, therefore impacting complete website performance for mobile and desktop visitors alike. 

Note that having the plugin active in Reader or Transitional mode ensures you have an AMP version of your content running alongside your non-AMP version. With some search engines switching to mobile first indexing the plugin’s “Redirect mobile traffic to AMP” feature can be of benefit.

The different modes provide you with flexibility to choose how you prefer to implement AMP, with options to utilize your existing WordPress theme or to enable AMP only on particular post types or templates. You can see a summary of the different modes below:

• Standard: This mode ensures you are adopting an AMP first approach. Your website is AMP by default and there is no /?amp at the end of your URLs. Standard mode works best for websites using an AMP compatible theme, which while also using AMP compatible plugins and content.
• Transitional: This mode ensures you have AMP URLs running alongside your regular (non AMP) URLs. This mode should be selected if you are using an AMP compatible theme but are not ready for a 100% AMP website (via AMP standard).
• Reader: This mode works best if you are using a theme which is not AMP compatible. Users can make use of AMP valid templates to serve individual pages and posts which run alongside your regular non AMP website. Non-singular templates like your blog index page, category page, and author page are not available in this mode. Your non-AMP URLs are not affected.

It depends on where your traffic is coming from. From a mobile search visitors will most likely be directed to your AMP URLs. Since version 2.0 of the plugin users now have the ability to automatically redirect mobile visitors to the AMP version using the mobile redirection feature. 

To view the AMP version of any of your pages and posts use any of the methods below:

• Use the AMP validator Chrome extension: Install the AMP validator browser extension and easily identify any AMP URLs or non AMP URLs which have an AMP version available. 
• Use the plugin’s toolbar menu item: If you have the toolbar active (Users > Your Profile > Toolbar) you can click on the “View AMP version” link.
• Use the in post editor preview button: Click on the AMP button next to the traditional preview link. 

Access the AMP link directly: Your AMP URL can be determined by looking for an link[rel=amphtml] element in any non AMP URLs source code (providing you are on a non AMP URL which has an AMP version available).

You may be using a theme or plugin which is not AMP-compatible. Many plugins and themes are built using custom JavaScript, which has some restrictions as defined in the AMP framework. If you find something isn’t working as it should, the first step is to check the plugin’s validation tool, which can help you determine the cause.

If you find there is a plugin responsible please see the “What if I’m using plugins that are not AMP-compatible” FAQ above. 

If you’re unable to determine the cause or if there is no issue highlighted try some general troubleshooting steps, such as checking your AMP URLs with other plugins temporarily deactivated or open a WordPress support forum topic and our team would be happy to assist.

The amp.dev site has an FAQ section which you can read here. This contains valuable information on the AMP framework for those interested in learning more.

If you’re using Standard or Transitional modes any changes you made using the standard customizer will apply to your AMP URLs. If you are using Reader mode, you can access the AMP customizer for your Reader theme via the Customize link on the admin bar when you are editing AMP content, or via the Appearance menu on the dashboard. When using Legacy AMP, in your Customer’s AMP panel, you can edit aspects such as the Header Text Color, Header Background & Link Color, and the Color Scheme.

There is an “Analytics” tab within the plugin which can be used to implement analytics tracking code from various vendors. It also displays some sample Google Analytics tracking code. For guidance visit this dedicated section on the plugins website. 

If you’re using AMP in Standard mode you can also apply any AMP tracking code to your theme customizer if your theme supports it.

If you are using Google Analytics another option is to install the Site Kit plugin, which can insert your Google Analytics tracking code in your AMP and non AMP alike.

This could happen if the AMP plugin has not been activated. It could also happen because there are AMP validation errors, which causes the redirect to prevent invalid AMP from being served. Check these two possibilities to determine the culprit.

This is likely to be caused by not having a featured image added to your post, something which should be addressed if you’re looking to maintain valid structured data. If you don’t have a featured image to be added we recommend creating a generic image which can be used with each post lacking one.

As per AMP guidelines featured images should be at least 1200 pixels in width. 

Featured images are currently necessary for search engines to index your AMP pages, so if you have one to include in every post, that will not only resolve this issue, but it will also help with SEO.

This may be caused by another plugin interfering with the AMP rendering of your posts. If you’ve installed a few new plugins, try deactivating them one at a time to see if that makes a difference. Certain settings can interfere with the loading of the page, so once you narrow it down, try adjusting the settings and extensions as well on other plugins.

You can use the below, added to your active themes functions.php (or preferably a custom plugin)

add_filter( 'amp_schemaorg_metadata', '__return_empty_array' );Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

The plugin suppression feature allows you to deactivate plugins for AMP URLs only. This can help ensure URLs render correctly in AMP without additional markup from that plugin. 

Many traditional ads are served using custom JavaScript, meaning they may not work by default in AMP URLs. You can however benefit from AMP ads for your AMP URLs, which can lead to increased viewability and improved monetization. You’ll find out more about AMP ads on the AMP.dev website, which also features a list of supported advertising networks and supporting documenting.

You can contribute using the plugins GitHub repository. File an issue, assist other users or submit feature requests. We’d also appreciate your feedback in the form of a review. Our team works hard to deliver this free product, with constant updates and additions based on your feedback.

Unfortunately Elementor is not known to be fully AMP compatible at this time. As a result you may encounter some validation errors and some Elementor features which may not render as expected in their AMP versions. You may follow this issue for possible updates on Elementor compatibility.

Check out the AMP plugin’s help forums here. 🙂 You might find your question has already been answered, or you can post a new one.