Microsoft adds amp html support to its Bing app

Microsoft has announced that it has added support for amp html to its Bing app. This means that web pages that use this technology should be able to load about eighty percent faster than normal HTML pages.

Microsoft writes that the Bing app automatically checks whether an amp version of a certain page is also available. If so, the app loads this page from a server that is nearby the user. This can also be done via an amp cache, so that more speed gains can be achieved. If no amp version is available, the app will load the normal version. According to Microsoft, the availability of an amp version does not affect the ranking of the pages in its algorithms.

Pages that support the technology can be recognized in the app by a gray symbol with a lightning bolt, the company adds. It’s unclear if this works the same in both the Android and iOS versions of the app. Microsoft says it started experimenting with the technology in May. It turned out that amp html yielded a speed gain of about eighty percent, in addition to a reduced data consumption.

Google presented amp html as an open source project in October 2015. Since then, several organizations, including many news sites, have implemented the technique. Amp html works by, among other things, limiting the use of javascript and giving lower priority to advertisements. Administrators may use tracking pixels for analytics purposes.

Amp icon in the Bing app for iOS