Google app on iOS gets faster load times, AMP articles in search, keyboard shortcuts, more
Faster load and search times are the highlight feature of an update to the Google app on iOS. Like on the mobile web and Android, AMP articles will now show up in search results.
Context & Ripple Effects
This update closes a platform gap Google had been working on all year: in February it began highlighting AMP pages in mobile search results, and now the iOS app gets the same treatment as mobile web and Android, alongside faster load and search times and new keyboard shortcuts.
It also extends a longer pattern of Google pulling more of its services into the iOS app itself — back in 2015 it started surfacing content from apps directly in search results there — so the app, not just Safari-bound mobile web, becomes a first-class surface for Google's search experience.
First-order effects
- iOS users get feature parity with Android and mobile web: AMP articles appear in their search results and load times drop, removing one of the reasons iPhone owners had to prefer the browser or Android.
Second-order effects
- Publishers who built AMP versions for Google's mobile web rollout now have another Google-owned surface sending traffic to those lightweight pages — and by August Google pushed further, announcing that mobile search links will go straight to the AMP version of a page when available, not the traditional HTML page.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, AMP stops being an opt-in performance project and becomes a de facto requirement for publishers who want Google search traffic, because Google controls the client, the ranking, and increasingly the destination URL across every major mobile platform.
The trend: Google is standardizing its fast-loading AMP experience across every search surface it controls, shifting web publishing toward formats chosen by distribution platforms rather than publishers.