What is the Difference between Paired and Canonical / Native AMP?

A Quick Explanation of The Difference Between Paired and Canonical (Native) AMP

AMP may be activated on a website in either Paired Mode or Canonical Mode (native AMP), here we will take a look at the difference:

1. Paired mode — allows you to keep the original non-AMP version of your web pages while having an additional, lighter AMP version. The pages are ‘paired’ through a special <link> code, which lets Google know there is an AMP version available. Search engines crawling the website will see the paired AMP version, and send mobile users to the AMP page as opposed to the ‘canonical’ non-AMP, whereas desktop users will be sent to the canonical non-AMP webpage. Paired mode means desktop search results will be non-AMP. Additionally, pages using paired-AMP mode will normally have a different URL the AMP version of each non-AMP webpage.
2. Canonical mode (AKA Standalone Mode, or Native AMP) — means that there is only one page which is built entirely in AMP. In this case, the AMP page links to itself as the ‘canonical URL’. Native Accelerated Mobile Pages will be known to Google as AMP for both mobile and desktop search. Pages are served directly from the AMP cache.

Many website conversion platforms will offer AMP strictly in ‘Paired Mode’. In fact, WebTales platforms are the only website conversion solutions which offers publishers the unique ability to choose paired, or native AMP mode for their website.