Learn How SEO can help to reduce the carbon footprint of a website
Learn How SEO can help to reduce the carbon footprint of a website
SEO plays a very significant role in any digital marketing strategy. It is the most effective way to get your website noticed by search engines and drive more traffic. However, SEO can also be used to decrease a website’s carbon footprint and make a positive environmental impact.
Most of us don’t think about the environmental footprint of our online activities. Irrespective of whatever we are doing online, it produces a carbon footprint. It is reported that the internet alone accounts for 3.7% of all global carbon emissions, which will double by the year 2026.
As internet users and website owners, we should all be conscious and actively working towards reducing our carbon footprints, including on our websites. So here’s how to use SEO to lessen the environmental impact of your website and move one step forward in achieving the carbon-neutral goal for not just the USA, but the world as a whole. Before that, we must know how we can determine the carbon footprint of a website.
- Check your website’s carbon footprint: Carbon Calculator
- Create high-quality content
- Boost page loading speed
- Optimize graphics
- Reduce JavaScript
- Review fonts
- Utilize a Green hosting service
- Review Plugins
- A Final Discussion
Check your website’s carbon footprint: Carbon Calculator
It is a calculator showing you the amount of carbon produced every time someone visits your website. It is a platform that you can use for free. Along with this, the calculator shows the ways to reduce your carbon footprint, like how many trees you would need to plant to offset the carbon produced.
Create high-quality content
To optimize the effectiveness of any page, it is a must to write high-quality content. Writing high-quality content is always necessary to maximize the performance of any page. But you should be aware that it also affects the environment, so carbon management is required. We won’t go as far as to say the planet’s fate is on your shoulder, but it does undoubtedly matter.
People often use different websites in search of appropriate answers to their queries. You can reduce carbon emissions produced by each page load time if you can give your readers accurate and valuable information for the first time.
Boost page loading speed
Increasing page load speed is one of the best ways to reduce carbon footprint. Making sure your web pages load promptly reduces the time users need to wait, which results in less energy being used and less CO2 being emitted. It will save user’s time, and less time on the internet means less energy consumption. The best way to check your page load speed is to use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.
Optimize graphics
Graphics significantly impact your page’s weight, alongside other elements such as videos. Therefore, it is essential to consider which photos generate the most revenue and which don’t to reduce footprint. However, we understand that removing graphics from a website isn’t always possible, so optimizing the pictures you already have is better.
For Optimization, you must consider the following two points:-
Size – Weight caused by images can be reduced by sizing them correctly. Realistically, you will only want your image size to match how it appears on the actual page itself; by doing that, you can decrease your eco-footprint.
Format – When you want to consider the forms, use WebP formats instead of PNG to make your images 28% smaller. Despite the decrease in the state, you will not be compromised by the quality of the graphics.
Reduce JavaScript
Managing JavaScript can help to reduce the carbon emissions of your website. However, JavaScript makes web pages more dynamic and aesthetically pleasing, but it also requires more resources, slowing down page load times.
It is also important to remember that utilizing JavaScript to show content already prevents you from using regular HTML in the eyes of Google bots. SEO services help optimize JavaScript and its functions on the page. So, whenever possible, consider the actual functional use of JavaScript on the page and if it could be replaced with HTML.
Review fonts
Even though fonts won’t significantly impact page load speed more than images, it is still something to consider. For example, using the WOFF2 font format can reduce font compression by 24% on average and make your webpage carbon neutral.
Utilize a Green hosting service
Usually, the data center and the information transmission need a lot of energy. This energy use can be reduced by carefully selecting your web hosting. A handful of companies offer green hosting, with a combination of those offsetting their carbon footprint by planting trees, etc., or using renewable energy such as solar or wind.
Review Plugins
Installing plugins is a way to speed up your page load time. However, plugins may not always be the best solution. Plugins can often be the cause of carbon emissions.
Before downloading new plugins, assess your current ones to see if they are necessary. Other than removing plugins, you can look at options such as serving plugin styles and scripts directly through your theme’s style sheet and JavaScript files. This way, you can load all of the techniques and scripts at once, working to reduce your carbon footprint.
Use Local CDNs Content Delivery Networks (CDN) is a network of servers distributed geographically to provide a better experience for the user by catching content more locally. So whether you are sitting in the USA or anywhere in the world, you can access any content on the internet without much hassle. Selecting the right CDN from Google Cloud can reduce your carbon footprint.
A Final Discussion
It is more crucial than ever for website owners to comprehend their environmental footprint and take steps to mitigate it. All businesses should be actively working toward it because we can do a lot to have an impact.
Not to mention working to reduce your website’s carbon footprint overlaps considerably with best practices around SEO. Optimizing your website to be greener is a win-win- for you, your customers, and the environment. If you want to reduce your website’s impact while generating traffic online, get in touch with SkyTrust now.
