This article is written by SEO experts at Varn Search Marketing.
Varn is a specialist SEO agency, helping to drive visibility, website rankings and revenue growth with SEO, AI search & data expertise.
In the world of digital design and development, we often focus on how websites look and function for users and search engines. But what if we told you that SEO best practices can also help reduce your website’s environmental footprint?
As sustainability becomes a priority for individuals and businesses alike, it's time to consider how the choices we make in digital spaces affect our planet. At the intersection of SEO and sustainability, there’s a shared goal: building lean, purposeful, and user-focused websites.
Here’s why optimising your website for SEO is also a win for the environment:
1. Optimised UX means fewer clicks and less energy
When users can find what they need quickly and easily, they spend less time clicking around or bouncing between pages. This streamlined experience is rewarded by Google, appreciated by users, and crucially, it consumes less energy.
Every webpage loaded and every click made requires data transfer through servers, which in turn uses electricity (and often water for cooling data centres). Fewer redundant page loads = lower carbon emissions. It's a small difference at the individual level, but at scale, it matters.
The Website Carbon Calculator states that the average website uses 0.8 grams CO2 equivalent per pageview. For a website with 10,000 monthly page views, that's 102 kg CO2e per year. That’s roughly the same emissions as driving an average UK petrol car for 600 km.
2. Good information architecture saves time and resources
SEO relies on clear, logical site architecture to help search engines crawl and index content efficiently, and that need is amplified with the rise of AI search platforms. But this structure also benefits users, particularly those using assistive technologies, by making navigation more intuitive.
And from a sustainability point of view? A well-structured website reduces the number of unnecessary server requests and eliminates the need for repeated visits or long search sessions.
3. Page speed isn’t just about patience. It’s about power
We know that users bounce if a page takes more than a few seconds to load. But speed has a carbon cost too.
A faster-loading site reduces CPU usage, data transfer, and battery drain across devices, which translates to energy savings. SEO practices like image compression, lazy loading, and reducing scripts all contribute to faster sites, and consequently a lighter digital footprint.
4. Avoid the bloat: Why custom builds beat generic templates
Standard website templates often come loaded with features you don’t need: bloated code, unused plugins, and flashy animations. These slow your site down and increase energy usage. Unfortunately, JavaScript can affect AI search visibility negatively too.
Noughts & Ones use custom-built templates for a reason: they include only what’s necessary. This not only improves site performance and SEO rankings but also aligns with sustainable development principles. Less code = less processing = less power.
5. The overlap between SEO, accessibility and sustainability
At their core, SEO, accessibility, and sustainability share a common goal: efficiency and inclusivity.
- Clear semantic HTML benefits screen readers, search engine bots, and performance.
- Descriptive alt text helps with image SEO and supports visually impaired users.
- Logical heading structures enhance crawlability and readability for all.
By aligning these three disciplines, we build websites that serve more people with less environmental impact.
6. Design considerations that lighten the load
Even visual choices matter. For example, dark mode or darker colour palettes can reduce energy use on OLED screens by emitting less light. While the savings per user may be small, it's another layer where conscious design supports a greener web.
Final thoughts
Sustainable web design isn’t just about offsetting emissions or choosing green hosting. It starts with the very bones of your website: its structure, content, speed, and usability.
SEO doesn’t just make your website easier to find, it makes it more efficient, more inclusive, and ultimately, better for the planet.
So next time you're thinking about improving your SEO, remember: you're not just helping your rankings. You might just be helping the Earth, too.
If you want help optimising your SEO for visibility and a more sustainable future, get in touch with the team at Varn.