Are you still using HTML 5 banners? Google is introducing AMPHTML.

In the world of online marketing, nothing lasts forever. Every marketer knows how dynamic the Internet is and how fast it's evolving. One of the tasks of every marketer is to watch trends so that competitors don't get a chance to get ahead, rather the opposite. The sooner you discover and start using a new trend, the more you will benefit from it. One of the new features, which have not yet been widely spread, is the use of the new AMPHTML banner ad format, which has outperformed hitherto used HTML5 formats. Let's look at the new format and its advantages over HTML5 format – its biggest rival.

Before we get to AMPHTML itself, let's outline the development of the previous formats. The first banner formats that are still used today for static, and therefore less eye-catching advertisements, were JPEG and PNG formats. They were later joined by GIF which is limited to only 256 colors and therefore not as widely used for static ads. On the other hand, it was GIF that was at the birth of animation. But due to poor quality and high compression it was soon replaced by Flash. Flash seemed to be quite alright, until more modern, secure and higher quality formats came out and Flash was no longer supported by Google (since January 2017).

Its successor and currently the most widely used format is HTML5. However, with the increasing use of mobile phones, this format has become insufficient as well. And even though HTML5 banners are still the most popular, their loading time, on mobile phones and tablets that don't have such a good connection, is too long and ads are often running, but fail to load before the user leaves the page.
Another issue is the need to interfere with the code whenever there is a change in operating systems. It is also annoying for marketers to meet Google's requirements for displaying HTML5
banners. These include the amount of credit spent and the amount of time your account is active. You can get rid of all these problems by using the latest AMPHTML format, which brings many other benefits.

In a nutshell, AMP (Accelerated mobile pages HTML) technology is customized HTML language at a specific address that uses predefined JavaScript libraries. It is set up to load faster on mobile devices and be less data-demanding. Another important feature is its fast loading due to pre-loading. What does all this mean? AMPHTML banners are less data demanding, faster and safer than any other format. Let's summarize all the advantages of AMPHTML over it's biggest rival – HTML5.

Advantages of AMPHTML over HTML5:

 

1) Faster loading

As already mentioned, one of the main advantages is its faster loading. HTML5 banners are significantly slower than AMPHTML, which is, for example, demonstrated by this test.
AMPHTML was designed to load before the page is displayed to the user. This generally gives your ads more visibility and increased CTR, which goes hand in hand with better quality of your ads and greater efficiency. We also can't forget to mention the overall improvement of organic search position due to better SEO rating.

2) Less data-demanding

Due to the specific selection of JavaScript libraries for AMPHTML formats, the size of the banner files is smaller than for classic HTML5 banners, which also contain a number of unnecessary JavaScript codes. This makes it easier for us to meet the maximum file sizes when uploading to different ad systems, and it is another reason why ads load faster.
 

3) AMPHTML is safer

Just as AMPHTML banners are loaded before they are displayed to the user, it is the same with verification and control of the banners. The system simply checks your ad before running it, preventing the spread of malicious malware. The user is thus 100% protected from attack. The HTML5 banner has no such precaution and is therefore a potential threat to the user and spread of
malware.

4) Use of banners without Google's terms

Unlike HTML5 format, AMPHTML banners are not conditioned in any way so you can deploy them to the system immediately without complicated verification or for smaller accounts without meeting
quite demanding conditions. For most accounts, this point may be crucial in deciding which format to choose. Without the possibility of using HTML5 banners, the user is left with AMPHTML banners, low-quality GIF animations, or static banners.
 

5) Tuned for mobile devices

Although all the benefits are evident on all devices, AMPHTML banners have additional benefits for mobile users. As the format was originally designed for portable devices, it contains a number of features that traditional HTML5 banners don't allow. Generally speaking, AMPHTML aims to save data and improve user experience. For example, animation in a banner is played only when it actually appears to the user on the display.

6) Better reach

Unlike the competitive format, AMPHTML banners appear on pages in AMPHTML code as well as on websites in other codes. With the increasing number of sites in the new format, this is a great
advantage. HTML5 is not able to appear on AMPHTML pages, so competition on these sites is significantly decreasing. Reduced competition leads to lower cost per click, which results in a greater reach.
If we want to look for any negatives in the new format, we can only find slight limitations in settings, such as blur effect. It is a small negative compared to all the advantages the format offers. Bottom line, AMPHTML fully outperforms its rivals. Now is the perfect time to start using the new format and take full advantage of it. Over time, the advantages will become the norm, and new, more sophisticated possibilities will emerge. Don't miss the train!