AMP, or Accelerated Mobile Pages, has been implemented on many sites as a way to speed up page load times for mobile devices. However, there are several valid reasons why you may want to disable AMP, especially if you’re using WordPress as your content management system (CMS). In this guide on how to properly disable Google AMP in WordPress, we’ll explore the three most common methods of doing so and which one works best depending on your WordPress theme, the version of WP-Engine that you’re using, and whether or not you want to use Google Analytics with AMP pages.
1) Disabling Google AMP With Tag Manager
Implementing AMP using Google Tag Manager is very simple, but there are a few steps involved. First, you’ll need to install and configure your Google Tag Manager container. Then, you’ll create a tag for your site that will tell it when to load any of your pre-cached pages instead of displaying an error page. These are important steps that you must follow in order or else loading your site might result in an incomplete/broken implementation of AMP. For example, some users have found success with implementing AMP by simply adding amp-google-tag manager as a custom HTML tag. However, if you don’t properly disable Google AMP on 404 errors then your site may still be showing up in search results even though it doesn’t work correctly.
2) Disabling Google AMP at the Server Level
Disabling Google AMP at the server level gives you total control over how your content is displayed. Even if you have enabled it for specific posts and pages, disabling it server-side will still prevent search engines from being able to use it on your entire site. To disable Google AMP via the .htaccess file, first login into your cPanel account and click on the File Manager icon. Then go to the public_html folder, open the root directory of your website and create a new blank text document by right-clicking anywhere inside that folder. Once done with that, give the name AMP_BLOCK to that text document and save it. Now edit that file by right-clicking on it and choosing the Edit option.
3) Disabling amp from within the settings
If you’re using a new version of WordPress, it’s relatively easy to disable Google AMP. Log into your admin panel, navigate to Settings > Reading, and uncheck Enable accelerated mobile pages. Easy peasy. If you’re using an older version of WordPress: You can still disable Google AMP by adding some code to your functions.php file, but before doing so, make sure that you know what you’re doing! There are several tutorials available online that will walk you through how to do so properly. Disabling amp from within your .htaccess file: This is another method for disabling Google AMP, but be warned, messing with .htaccess files can cause serious problems if done improperly. It’s not recommended unless you have a good grasp of how they work.
Bottom line
Disabling Google AMP can improve your site’s performance and load times. While it isn’t necessary for every website, many large publications and news sites have disabled AMP because of these issues. If you have a WordPress site, there are three ways you can disable Google AMP. In most cases, one method should be more than enough, but sometimes a little more customization is needed. Keep reading to learn how to properly disable Google AMP on your website using either code or a plugin.
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