Google AMP URLs not letting searchers click through to main site

Yet another Google bug may be impacting your traffic - this one is with Google AMP.

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There seems to be a bug where when you go to the Google AMP cache version of a page through Google search, clicking on the link to go to the main URL will not work. We tried it ourselves in both Chrome and Safari on an iPhone and clicking on the link does not give you a quick way to visit the non-Google AMP cache URL.

This appears to be a bug and Google will hopefully fix it soon.

What happens. Open your mobile device, launch Chrome and search for [Google update]. From there, try clicking on our story or any story that is an AMP URL from search. Then from there, try clicking on the link icon at the top right of Chrome. The screen will turn gray, when you click, and do nothing.

What it looks like. Here is what it looks like as an animated GIF when I tap on that link icon at the top right:

Google Amp Cache Bug Click

When did this bug start? It seems there are reports as early as around midnight this morning:

Google is aware. Danny Sullivan from Google is now aware of the issue and has said this bug has been “passed on and looked at.” So it seems Google is looking to fix this bug.

Why we care. This bug may be causing you to notice less traffic from your AMP URLs to your main site. So keep that in mind when reviewing your analytics and metrics for June 11th.

Fixed. At around 7pm EDT this seems to have been resolved.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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