AMP deprecation and crawling
Google removed the AMP requirement for the Top Stories carousel and retired the AMP badge in Search, so AMP is no longer a prerequisite for those features. Sites moving off AMP must handle the transition carefully: redirect AMP URLs to canonical pages, update canonical and sitemap signals, and ensure the non-AMP page is fast and indexable so crawling and rankings are preserved.
What this means
AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) was a framework for fast mobile pages, and for a time AMP was effectively required to appear in Google's Top Stories carousel. Google changed this: with the page-experience update, the Top Stories carousel became open to non-AMP pages, and Google retired the AMP badge in Search results.
AMP itself still works, but it is no longer a gate for those Search features. Many sites have chosen to consolidate on a single fast non-AMP version rather than maintaining two parallel URL sets.
Migrating off AMP cleanly
The crawl risk in deprecating AMP is leaving two versions of each page. To migrate cleanly, redirect each AMP URL to its canonical non-AMP URL with a server-side redirect, remove AMP-specific markup and the amphtml link, and ensure the canonical page's rel=canonical points to itself.
Update sitemaps to list only the canonical URLs, and confirm the non-AMP page is fast enough to keep its place in performance-sensitive features. Done well, signals consolidate onto the single canonical URL and crawl budget is no longer split across two URL sets.
- AMP is no longer required for Top Stories; the AMP badge was retired
- Redirect AMP URLs to canonical non-AMP URLs
- Remove amphtml links and AMP-only markup
- Update sitemaps and confirm the canonical page is fast
Avoiding regressions
Watch for orphaned AMP URLs still linked internally or in old sitemaps, which waste crawl budget and can be indexed as duplicates. Check the Page Indexing report for AMP URLs flagged as duplicates or alternate pages without redirects.
Keep performance front of mind: the reason AMP could be dropped is that Search now evaluates page experience directly, so the canonical page must meet Core Web Vitals expectations to retain visibility in performance-gated features.
How it appears in analytics and logs
AMP URLs left in place after migration can become duplicate or orphaned URLs. Properly redirecting them and updating canonicals tells crawlers the canonical page is the one to index, preserving consolidated signals.
Diagnostic use case
Plan a migration away from AMP without losing crawl coverage or rankings, by redirecting AMP URLs, fixing canonical links, and confirming the canonical page meets performance expectations.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID records crawler requests to both legacy AMP URLs and canonical URLs server-side, so you can confirm crawlers are following redirects to the canonical page after an AMP migration.
Common mistakes
- Removing AMP pages without redirecting their URLs to the canonical version.
- Leaving amphtml links or AMP URLs in sitemaps after migration.
- Assuming dropping AMP frees you from performance requirements — page experience still matters.
- Letting orphaned AMP URLs get indexed as duplicates of the canonical page.
Privacy and accuracy notes
AMP migration concerns page URLs and templates, not visitors. WebmasterID treats it as a crawl-and-canonical topic and never associates it with visitor identity.
Related pages
- Canonical tag best practices
The rel=canonical annotation tells search engines which URL is the preferred version of duplicate or near-duplicate content, consolidating signals onto one URL. It is a strong hint, not a directive — Google may choose a different canonical if other signals disagree. This page covers correct implementation: self-referencing canonicals, absolute URLs, consistency with sitemaps and internal links, and the mistakes that send conflicting signals.
- Redirect best practices for crawlers
Good redirects keep crawlers and link equity flowing to the right destination. The essentials: use 301 or 308 for permanent moves and 302 or 307 only for genuinely temporary ones, redirect each old URL directly to its final target in a single hop, map to the closest equivalent page rather than dumping everything on the homepage, and avoid loops. These choices preserve indexing signals and conserve crawl budget.
- Core Web Vitals and crawling
Core Web Vitals are Google's three user-centric performance metrics — Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, and Interaction to Next Paint. They are a page experience signal used in ranking, but they do not gate crawling or indexing: a slow page can still be crawled and indexed. This page explains how vitals are measured in the field versus the lab and where they fit in the crawl-to-rank pipeline.
- Website observability
Confirm crawlers follow redirects from legacy AMP URLs to canonical pages.
Sources and verification notes
- Google Search Central — Page experience and Top StoriesTop Stories opened to non-AMP; AMP no longer required.
- Google Search Central — AMP on Google Search guidelines
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.