How can I make my website more sustainable and eco-friendlier?
You might not realise this, but your online activities have an environmental footprint. Every time you browse the internet, send an email, or stream a show such as on Amazon Prime or Netflix, energy gets used. This is because the internet relies on electricity to work. Large buildings called data centres hold the servers that store our data and keep all our online services running. These buildings uses a lot of power and this system is often entitled to as “the cloud”.
An estimated 3.7% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from smartphones, gadgets, the internet, and the network. That is roughly the same as what the aviation industry produces. As more people go online and digital services grow, internet-related emissions are expected to double by 2025. So this blog will suggest ways in which you can cut down your digital footprint and reduce your environmental impact.
Below is a checklist for Sustainable and eco-friendly website which is broken down into two groups: What you should do as the website owner/administrator, and areas you can request your web developer to do on your behalf.
Areas that the owner/administrator should carry out
1- Cut down on image sizes.
The creative sectors love to use big images and videos to show off their work. But you need to find a balance between making your site look great and keeping it green. According to HTTP archive, images account for 43% of all web pages. The average page has about 1 Megabyte of image data, which is quite a lot. So make sure that all your images are properly resized and optimised. By having faster images, will mean that your visitors load pages quicker and help to save energy. If you are unsure how to do this, ask your web designer or check out online guides on image optimisation.
2- Does that video need to be uploaded?
Video content can use more energy than other parts of a website. If your video is necessary for your website, then make sure it has been compressed correctly and optimised to load quickly. Keep videos as short as possible without losing the message. Avoid using auto-play, which can slow down your site and waste processor power. Let your visitors choose whether they want to watch the video or not. Use host videos on trusted platforms like YouTube as they automatically compress and stream videos efficiently depending on what device the viewers are using.
3- Media Library housekeeping
Your Content Management System (CMS) keeps all your media in one location. If you use WordPress, then this is called the ‘Media Library’. Regularly go through what has been stored there and delete images or files that you no longer require. It is also recommended to look at your website’s analytics, as storing all this extra data uses a lot of energy at the data centre. So, remove old pages that don’t bring in any value or traffic anymore and clear out what isn’t needed to save space and resources.
4- Review the journey your visitors take around your website
Check how users move through your site. You may be surprised by how many extra steps are involved. A recent report shows that the average webpage weighs about 2.2 megabytes. So, by making things easier for visitors helps everyone by ensuring that their experience is smoother and reduces the energy needed to browse. Using a great content management system (CMS), this can rearrange pages to improve how users navigate around your website. Should you require any help with this, then speak to your web designer.
5- Be ruthless with your copy
Cut out anything that isn’t necessary by saying what you mean in the fewest words. If a line doesn’t add value, then remove it. Tighten your sentences and make every word count. Keep the flow natural and simple and don’t overthink it. The goal is to be sharp and concise. Focus on what truly matters in the content and strip away everything else. By keeping things short will help with sustainability as less text means less data to store. It also makes it easier for users to find what they want quickly, as they won’t waste energy scrolling through pages full of clutter. Simple is better for both the user and the environment.
Areas you may need professional help with
There are some things you might want your web developer to look after for you. By explaining to them that you want to make your website more eco-friendly, they may come up with some helpful ideas.
Below are a few areas you can ask them to focus on.
6- Switch to green hosting.
Check whether your website is hosted using renewable energy. If it’s not, then get your developer to look at having a UK-based hosting provider. Overseas hosting providers may be cheaper to purchase initally, but it takes more energy to transmit your website data over longer distances.
7- Reduce customised fonts
Designers love their fonts, but customised fonts can make your web pages load much slower. Fonts are made up of different weights like regular, bold, or extra bold. This slows down how fast your site loads, which ultimately uses more energy. When talking to your designer, make sure that only the font weights you need are included. If you use more than one font, then check if they are necessary.
8- Compress your code
We have already discussed about compressing images and videos to make web pages faster and save energy. But what about the other parts of the page, such as the code and scripts, like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as these can also be compressed to improve performance.
So speak to your developer to see whether they used any tools to minimise the size of their code. Cleaner, compressed code means less energy to serve your web pages, which will have less of an environmental impact.
9- Be selective with tracking scripts
These days, everyone seems obsessed with collecting data. But is it necessary to gather this much data? If your website uses multiple analytics tools to track your visitors, then this will all add up as it uses energy, which makes your pages heavier. So ask your developer to check what tools are being used and see if they can simplify things to cut back.
10- Stop using bots!
A bot, or robot, is software that automatically does tasks like crawling web pages on the internet. An estimated half of all online traffic comes from bots, but this uses up your bandwidth and power. The bad bots are run by hackers who are looking for weaknesses in your website. So, ask your developer if they use security services to help manage bots and also to boost your site’s security and speed.
Conclusion
By making your website more eco-friendly has two main benefits. Firstly, it is much better for your visitors as having a faster, less cluttered website will give a nicer experience and make your brand look great. Second, it is good for the planet. By fixing even a small part of your website, you are helping to protect the environment and can help to make a huge difference to climate change.
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