How to Fix 404 on AMP Pages After Deactivating the AMP Plugin

February 14, 2021 by Gulshan Kumar

Note: You should noindex /amp/ pages first.

Do you want to redirect AMP permalink to the Non-AMP URL? This guide is going to help you.

You might know well, Twitter has also started serving AMP pages. Therefore, using redirection is very important to prevent from 404 hits for old AMP WordPress permalink. After deactivating the plugin, you will receive Error 404 for all AMP permalinks.

To fix this problem, you need to setup a redirect from the AMP to NON-AMP(canonical) URL.

Go to Yoast SEO Plugin > Tools > File Editor
In the .htaccess field add AMP to Non-AMP path redirection rule
and Save changes

# Redirect from AMP to non-AMP path
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.+)/amp(.*)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/wp-content/(.*)$ 
RewriteRule ^ %1/ [R=301,L]

Important changelog IST 3:15 PM 5/11/2017
* Excluded wp-content, concerning images which may contains ‘amp’ in the name.

What if you don’t have control to .htaccess?

Alternatively, you can also prevent 404 by doing a redirect from AMP to non-AMP path (canonical) pages using a free plugin called “Redirection“.

Install a free plugin called “Redirection“
Go to WordPress Dashboard > Tools > Redirection
Add a new 301 Redirection
Keep source /(.*)\/amp
Target URL https://www.yourdomain.com/$1

Kindly note: These steps should be implemented after disabling/noindexing AMP properly.

How do I set AMP to Canonical Redirect in case of NGINX?

location ~ /amp/?$ { rewrite ^(.*/)amp/?$ $1 permanent; }

Where I can find .htaccess file? 🤔

In the Apache server, .htaccess file is typically located in public_html directory. Or using Yoast File Editor or via WP File manager plugin can also be helpful.

Which method should I use .htaccess or Redirection?

If you’re using Apache web server then go with .htaccess else plugin way is easy.

My Search Console is still showing 404

Search Console may take some time to refresh data. Wait for few days and check again.

I hope this guides helps in fixing 404 for AMP URLs. If you have any specific query, please feel free to ask. Thanks!

Any question? Please ask at Gulshan Forum.

35 thoughts on “How to Fix 404 on AMP Pages After Deactivating the AMP Plugin”

Arav Ramakan

September 26, 2017 at 6:12 pm

Hi Gulshan,

Thanks for sharing this useful info on rectifying the AMP page errors on how to remove 404 error pages after disabling the AMP plugin

Please post about more amp errors like user modified javascript errors and user modified css types of amp errors, I am struggling to rectify them, my webmaster reports are flooded with this errors.

Thanks in advance!!
Reply
Anto Navis

October 31, 2017 at 5:29 pm

Hi Bro,

Shall I know its rewrite the .htaccess files are best or we need to use the redirect plugin?

Which option is the best bro?

Can you share the opinion bro?

Thank you
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  October 31, 2017 at 6:33 pm
  
  I would recommend using .htaccess method for redirecting from AMP to Non-AMP permalinks. It is safe.
  Reply
Lily Olson

November 18, 2017 at 1:52 pm

Hi Gulshan!

I read your post but I got a little stuck where you show the .htaccess field because mine looks different than yours, mine starts as follows:

# Use PHP56 Single php.ini as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php56s .php

# BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache

Do you think it’ll still work?

The other question is what you mean when you put:

Important changelogs IST 3:15 PM 5/11/2017
* Excluded wp-content path concerning images which may contain ‘amp’ in the name.

Would you please explain what that means? Do we have to do something else with that info?

Thank you! I really appreciate your help!
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  November 18, 2017 at 4:09 pm
  
  Hi,
  
  Thanks for the comment. Let me explain you in the detail. When I had written “AMP to non-AMP redirect” code for the first time, it was
  
  # Redirect from AMP to non-AMP path RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.+)/amp(.*)$ RewriteRule ^ %1/ [R=301,L]
  
  But after few months, I noticed that some of my images with file name “amp” were not loading.
  That’s why, I decided to exclude wp-content path completely.
  
  So, as per my current knowledge, below code is correct and it should work for you.
  
  # Redirect from AMP to non-AMP path RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.+)/amp(.*)$ RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/wp-content/(.*)$ RewriteRule ^ %1/ [R=301,L]
  
  Here, RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/wp-content/(.*)$ means redirection is excluded for static files of wp-content. path.
  
  I had forget to update my screenshot after updating this thing in the changelogs.
  Thanks for reminding. Due to your question, I felt encouraged to update the screenshot.
  
  Feel free to use this code, it should work for you. You should add this code just above # BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache since you are using a Cache plugin.
  
  If you have any more queries, please feel free to ask.
  
  Thanks & Regards,
  Gulshan
  Reply
  - Lily Olson
    
    November 19, 2017 at 1:17 am
    
    Thank Gulshan! I am not very tech about stuff like this. Do you think this system works no matter what type of plugins a website has installed ( I mean compatibility) or the type of robot.txt someone has set up?
    
    As I don’t know much about this stuff I want to be sure I won’t screw my site even more lol. A girl put that AMP plugin on my website saying it would help with my ranking and it was worse! all the tables on my website look completely wrong.
    
    Thanks Gulshan!
    Reply
    - Gulshan Kumar
      
      November 19, 2017 at 1:42 am
      
      Hi dear,
      
      Just for removing AMP from Google, kindly note – Following above tutorial is not required, as I said in my last article
      https://www.gulshankumar.net/remove-amp/. Above mentioned step is completely optional. Please check my last article if you have missed reading it.
      
      Thanks
      Reply
Lily Olson

November 19, 2017 at 3:32 am

Sorry I was referring to the plugin Real-Time Find and Replace, I should’ve asked this question on the previous page. My mistake.
Reply
Joe Twumasi

December 23, 2017 at 11:58 pm

If you are using Yoast Plugin, just enter the fix provided here in the advanced redirect section of Yoast and it works like charm
Reply
techtexa

January 11, 2018 at 2:44 pm

thank you very much for such a wonderfull information, sir
this is 100% working solution

# Redirect from AMP to non-AMP path
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.+)/amp(.*)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/wp-content/(.*)$
RewriteRule ^ %1/ [R=301,L]

how many days this code need to be place there
as i am not using AMP further
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  January 11, 2018 at 2:46 pm
  
  As long, you want to redirect AMP visitor to normal pages, to avoid 404.
  Reply
Biju John

January 29, 2018 at 9:58 pm

Thanks a lot, Gulshan. You have helped me a lot. Thanks
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  January 29, 2018 at 10:00 pm
  
  Hello dear,
  
  I am so glad it was helpful. Thanks a lot for your comment.
  Reply
TjM

February 3, 2018 at 9:16 pm

Hi, I love this except when I test links to my site from SERPS it still takes me to the AMP version of the page. i.e. the URL is actually pointing to a Google server such as https://google.com/amp/s/mypagepath. Is this just because I need to wait until Google de-indexes the AMP version and restores the versions of my pages that point to my server?
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  February 5, 2018 at 6:36 pm
  
  It seems you accidentally deactivated plugin, you shouldn’t. Please read my post again.
  Reply
Pete

September 13, 2018 at 1:29 am

Hello Sir,
I have just deactivated amp plugin but I got trouble
How to solve this
I’d like to redirect domain.com/posting/?nonamp=1 to domain.com/posting/
Thanks
Reply
Pankaj Kumar

December 19, 2018 at 1:23 pm

Hi,

Your code is working fine for posts AMP URLs but not for home page. When I am going to https://example.com/amp, it’s redirecting to https://example.com/amp/

However, if post AMP URL is https://example.com/post-name/amp then it’s properly redirecting to https://example.com/post-name.

How do I fix the home page redirect issue?
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  December 27, 2018 at 2:40 am
  
  Please try this code.
  
  RewriteRule ^amp/$ /? [L,R=301]
  
  Thanks
  Reply
Arvind

December 28, 2018 at 6:10 pm

If i use Redirection plugin, then i have to select regex option too ?
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  January 11, 2019 at 3:12 am
  
  Hello Arvind, Yes, it’s required in that case.
  Reply
  - John
    
    January 17, 2019 at 4:43 am
    
    Hey Gulshan,
    
    I have already redirected all amp errors via the yoast redirect plugin. I heard that redirecting the 404 errors to my homepage is not the best idea but I have already done it. Should I do the .htaccess method as well? Should I also delete the redirects if I do the .htaccess option? What do you recommend I do?
    Reply
    - Gulshan Kumar
      
      January 17, 2019 at 12:08 pm
      
      Using above redirection rule, You should redirect AMP to non-AMP pages, not every URLs to homepage.
      Reply
      - John
        
        January 18, 2019 at 1:41 am
        
        Will using the .htaccess be enough to get rid of the amp errors? I did that and deleted the redirects. Is that okay to do or will the errors come back?
Milind Kumar

March 15, 2019 at 3:51 pm

Hey, gulshan thanks for this informative article. Iam having problem with 404 after disabling amp plugin. I have Followed each and every steps carefully but still having lots of 404 errors on webmaster. Plz help
Reply
Pratik Bhatt

April 23, 2020 at 6:23 pm

Hi, gulshan

I wish, I got your good piece of article before. But unfortunately, I deactivated the amp for wp plugin without disabling/noindexing AMP properly. Now what i can do about the amp pages that shows 404. Should I do redirection or google will take them out after some time.

Thanks.
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  April 24, 2020 at 1:24 am
  
  If your AMP pages are still present in Google SERPS, then install AMP for WP first and noindex it properly. Then, after few weeks when all AMP pages goes from SERPs, then set redirect.
  Reply
Nirmal Kumar

May 14, 2020 at 10:49 pm

Hey Gulshan,

How are you? It’s been a long time.

I have a quick question. I am using AMP on my website. In that case, should I optimize my default mobile pages also for speed? Will there be any impact?
Reply
Sandy Sen

December 9, 2020 at 1:25 pm

Hi Bro,
Actually, I have done everything with your method, within some time error gone from the AdSense. Yesterday I disabled Find and Replace plugin.
Today, when I open my adsense, account its showing. I tried to open my home page like http://www.jiofiber.in/amp ist showing.
But if i open my post with amp version, then my all post are opening. What is the issue can you tell me, please.
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  December 9, 2020 at 5:19 pm
  
  Currently, I am not able to open AMP version of this site.
  Reply
Andrew Richard

January 22, 2021 at 7:09 pm

Hai Gulshan I need your suggestion.
Now my amp posts are not showing up in google.com when checked using this format with my blog /*/amp/ , but in google search console it shows I valid post.

Can I deactivate the ampforwp plugin and delete it.

As far as for setting up redirect to avoid 404 errors I can add this code to my rank math plugin .htacess editor right.

# Redirect from AMP to non-AMP path RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (.+)/amp(.*)$ RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/wp-content/(.*)$ RewriteRule ^ %1/ [R=301,L]

But I don’t know whether my server is Nginx or not , I am using sitegrounds managed wordpress gogeek hosting plan. So please help me out now I am seeing lots of 404 redirections in wp admin. Thank You for your time.
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  January 22, 2021 at 10:03 pm
  
  You can set redirect now.
  Reply
Kathrin

January 24, 2021 at 4:53 am

Dear Gulshan, I read your post and tried to redirect my amp urls to my normal url with your information but it doesn’t work

I have an AMP URL that looks like this: https://www.mydomain/mypost?amp and for that the regex rule: /(.*)\/amp –> https://www.yourdomain.com/$1 doesn’t work 🙁 I also have tried redirect ?amp pages –> source: ^/(.*?)/\?amp=.* –> Target: /$1/ but here the redirection tool tells me that $ for target is wrong. What should I do?

Thanks for your help.
Greetings Kathrin
Reply
- Kathrin
  
  January 24, 2021 at 10:03 pm
  
  I’ve tried this Regex Rule: Source /(.*)\/?amp and Target https://www.mysite.com/$1 and it seems that it is working. What do you mean?
  
  Greetings Kathrin
  Reply
sai ram

February 14, 2021 at 7:34 am

Hello

Apke batai hui method pe Mein AMP ko delete kiya or uske baad meri Google Search Console account mein or ek error ayya “Reference Amp url is not an Amp” (https:/eample.com/url/to/amp/document.html) ye error arrahihe Gulshan bhai please bataye eshe kaise solve karun.

Google mein aphi ese mile jisne AMP remove karneka solution essay method se bataya
Thank you
Reply
- Gulshan Kumar
  
  February 14, 2021 at 12:32 pm
  
  1. First, noindex AMP pages
  2. Then after few weeks you shall do redirect.
  Reply