Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages has been extended to ads

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), first launched by Google last October, has been extended, specifically for advertising content. AMP for ads (A4A) separates ad requests from ad rendering, enabling fast ad rendering at no additional CPU or memory cost. In addition, CPU usage will be limited to on-screen ads to save battery life. However, A4A's functionality is limited, although it does have its own analytics, eliminating bandwidth and runtime costs usually associated with measurement tools.

Last October, Google announced its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project to help deliver speedier mobile content. On Tuesday, the company introduced a version of AMP tailored specifically for advertising content.

AMP for ads (A4A) is "bringing us to a more technically healthy advertising ecosystem on the internet," Malte Ubl, Tech Lead for the AMP Project, wrote in a blog post.

AMP for ads will differ from legacy web ads, as well as from other AMP pages, in a few key ways: Unlike legacy web ads, A4A separates ad requests from ad rendering, allowing for faster ad rendering at no additional CPU or memory cost. Additionally, CPU usage will be limited to on-screen ads to save battery life.

Since ads are a more focused use case than most AMP pages, A4A won't come with the full functionality of regular AMP pages. A4A does, however, have its own analytics functionality, which will eliminate the bandwidth and runtime costs associated with the measurement tools that typically come with an ad.

Google initially build AMP pages to support legacy web ads, but they had to accommodate the technical challenges surrounding those ads -- without compromising content. When an AMP page loads now, ads are loaded after the content, and they are contained to specific spaces.

AMP pages will continue to support non-AMP ads for now, as Google experiments with A4A. The development helps Google catch up with Facebook's Instant Articles, which already cater to advertisers.