AMP Page removal: What we did; why we did it and what needs to happen

What we did

We removed the AMP pages from GEN and CO prod.

Why we did it

Amp pages do not show ads and mobile traffic on GEN and CO has risen to over 50% which resulted a steep drop in ad impressions (because 50% of the traffic saw no ads). There were other issues as well including the wrong author showing or an author showing for articles that were staff written and should not have an author shown, no ctas or any where else for visitors to go since AMP pages did not show anything except a simplified nav and the article.

How we did it

  • We Added the following redirects to Tools > Redirection: 
Mail - Kucsera, Melinda - Outlook - Google Chrome 
Source URL: 
/(.*)\/\?amp

Target URL: 
https://www.genengnews.com/$1

make sure regex is checked off.
Click to copy

FOR NEWSPAPER 9

In WP admin, go to Plugins > installed plugins and deactivate the tagDiv AMP plugin

FOR NEWSPAPER 10

  • In WP admin, go to Newspaper >  Plugins
  • do not activate the AMP plugin or the Mobile theme plugin.
  • Leave them inactive if they come with the theme. They are NOT necessary for the theme. It works fine without them, even on mobile.