WordPress sustainability tips

We have created our recommended WordPress sustainability tips to make your website more eco-friendly. WordPress is a powerful and feature-rich platform, but its flexibility means it’s easy to bloat a site with heavy themes, numerous plugins, and large media files.

The following tips will help you keep your WordPress site lean and green.

1. Choose a green hosting provider

Our first WordPress sustainability tip is the foundation of a sustainable WordPress site. Web hosting runs on data centres, which can be giant users of electricity for servers and cooling systems. The difference between an average host and a “green” host can have a substantial environmental impact.

Green hosting providers power their data centres with renewable energy or purchase credible offsets for their energy use. Some even design their infrastructure to be ultra-efficient in power usage and cooling.

When evaluating hosts, look for commitments to sustainability. For example, some hosting companies partner with Google Cloud or Amazon AWS infrastructure, which have stated goals for carbon-neutral or renewable-powered operations.

Google’s data centres, in particular, match 100% of their electricity with renewable energy purchases. Using managed hosting for WordPress that runs on Google Cloud Platform will give you those green benefits. Also, many hosting companies publicly share their environmental initiatives, from energy-efficient hardware to tree-planting programs.

Check hosting

To gauge a host’s greenness, you can check resources like the Green Web Foundation, which maintains a directory and a tool to see if a given host is powered by green energy.

Additionally, consider the host’s Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating – a measure of data centre efficiency (with 1.0 being ideal). A lower PUE means more electricity goes to computing rather than waste heat.

There are numerous reputable eco-friendly hosting providers. Do your research and pick a hosting provider that aligns with sustainability values. This single decision can drastically cut your site’s indirect emissions.

2. Use a lightweight theme and plugins

One of WordPress’s strengths is its vast choice of themes and plugins. However, not all are created equal when it comes to efficiency.

So our second WordPress sustainability tip is to choose a lean theme and keep only essential, well-coded plugins.

Large, feature-rich themes can include many scripts, large page templates, and high-resolution images you might not even use.

Similarly, installing many plugins – or a few particularly bloated ones – can slow down your site and increase energy use (each plugin may load its own CSS/JS or make database queries). To keep your site sustainable, it’s crucial to be selective and minimalist with these extensions.

Choose a WordPress theme

Select a WordPress theme that is lightweight and performance-optimised. Themes that advertise many animations, integrated page builders, or lots of pre-built sliders and elements might be convenient, but they often carry a lot of “dead weight” if you’re not using all those features.

Instead, look for themes prioritising speed and simplicity, or consider using WordPress’s default themes (usually pretty lean) as a base. You can always extend functionality as needed, but removing baked-in unnecessary features is far more challenging.

A good practice is to test a theme’s demo on a tool like WebPageTest to see how heavy it is, before committing to it.

Using WordPress plugins

Start by auditing your plugins. Deactivate and delete any plugins that aren’t essential. Periodically, do a “spring clean” of your site:

• Remove unwanted plugins
• Remove old plugins you’re not using
• Review other clutter, like spam comments or old revisions

Each active plugin adds load to your site (and many perform ongoing tasks or database calls even when you’re not actively using them). Aim to achieve the functionality needed with as few plugins as possible. Sometimes, one well-chosen plugin can replace several others by handling multiple tasks, further streamlining your setup.

Similarly, avoid plugins that load heavy external resources (like many fonts or advertising scripts) unless absolutely necessary.

Finally, keep everything up to date. Updated themes and plugins often include performance improvements that can reduce resource usage. Plus, outdated software can cause your server to work harder (e.g., due to error logs or incompatibilities).

For any plugin you do need, configure it for performance: turn off features you don’t need and ensure it’s not inefficient (for instance, a related posts plugin that performs a complex database query on every page could be replaced with a simpler solution).

Page builder plugins

Be mindful of what your plugins do. Some plugins are known to be resource-intensive. For example, most visual page builders can add significant frontend weight and multiple nested divs in your HTML, resulting in larger pages.

If sustainability is a priority, we recommend using the built-in ‘Gutenberg’ block editor for layout (which is quite efficient) instead of a third-party page builder.

3. Optimise images and media

Our third WordPress sustainability tip is about your website’s media. Your media files (images, graphics, videos) are usually the largest assets on a web page, so optimising media is a high-impact step for sustainability.

Image optimisation

Only use images (or videos) if they add value. If a page can convey information with text and simple styling instead of a large image, that’s preferable. Where images are essential (like product photos, blog visuals, etc.), you might also explore design techniques like CSS effects or vector graphics for decorative elements instead of always using raster images.

Image optimisation in WordPress should be both a one-time setup and ongoing.

Start by configuring your site to compress images on upload. Plugins like Smush or EWWW Image Optimizer can automatically compress and even resize images as you add them to the media library. This ensures that content editors or contributors who might not manually optimise images are still delivering lighter files.

Aim to serve images in modern formats when possible: WebP images can be dramatically smaller than JPEG/PNG for the same quality. WordPress now supports WebP natively, so take advantage of that for browsers that support it.

Beyond format and compression, use proper sizing. Use responsive image attributes (srcset and sizes) so each user gets an image that is appropriate to their device’s resolution.

WordPress does this out of the box for inserted images, generating multiple sizes, but ensure your theme hasn’t disabled this feature. Also, remove metadata from images (many optimisation tools do this) and consider lower quality settings for JPEGS – often you can drop quality to 70% and most users won’t notice, but the file size savings are significant.

Video loading

Be even more selective about the sustainability of WordPress video content. Video files are usually large; an auto-play background video can make a page’s data several megabytes. If video is not central to your message, consider using a single representative image instead.

If you need video (for example, a tutorial or marketing video), optimise it by compressing and using modern codecs, and don’t autoplay it on page load. Let users decide to play a video, possibly even warning them or giving a duration so they know what they’re downloading.

You can host videos on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo (which might deliver them more efficiently and at scale), and embed with WordPress’ embed block. These platforms also handle adaptive streaming (serving lower quality to users on slow connections). If hosting videos yourself, provide multiple resolutions and use the HTML5 video poster attribute to delay loading the video file until it is played.

As with images, lazy load videos. WordPress plugins that replace embedded videos with placeholder images until clicked prevent large video files from loading unless needed.

4. Implement caching and minimise scripts

Our fourth WordPress sustainability tip is more technical. Effective use of caching can dramatically improve your WordPress site’s energy efficiency.

Caching means storing pre-generated copies of your pages or parts of pages so the server doesn’t repeat expensive operations for every request. By serving cached pages, you reduce server CPU usage and database queries, which in turn reduces the electricity used per page view.

For WordPress, a number of caching plugins are available (such as WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, or LiteSpeed Cache). These plugins generate static HTML versions of your pages and serve them to users, bypassing the heavy PHP/Database process for most visitors. Once caching is enabled and configured, your server workload and response times improve significantly – a clear boon for sustainability and speed.

There are also object caching mechanisms (like using Redis or Memcached) to cache database query results, and OPcode caches to speed up PHP execution.

If you’re using managed WordPress hosting, many of these services might be automatically provided. The key is to ensure some form of caching is active. Fewer back-and-forth data transfers and computations mean less energy per user session.

Another aspect is front-end caching and optimisation. Leverage the browser cache by sending proper cache headers (so repeat visitors don’t re-download the duplicate files). Most performance plugins take care of this, instructing browsers to cache static resources like images, CSS, and JS for a certain period.

Minimise scripts

In tandem with caching, work on minimising scripts and external calls. Every external script or stylesheet your WordPress site loads requires a DNS lookup and a fetch, which add overhead.

Audit what external resources are being called when your site loads. Common culprits include third-party analytics, social media embeds, ad networks, or font services.

For necessary scripts, see if you can load them in a way that impacts the user less (for example, load asynchronously or defer them so they don’t block the primary content).

Reducing the number of HTTP requests speeds up your site and slightly reduces the energy used in network transmission and device processing.

It’s worth noting that script complexity matters too. A gigantic, monolithic JavaScript file that does a lot of work on the client’s device can increase the user’s device energy usage. So, while focusing on the server side is essential, be mindful of not overloading the client with heavy single-page-app frameworks or long-running scripts that drain the battery.

Sometimes, a simple multi-page approach (with cached and fast reloads) might be more energy-efficient than a JavaScript-heavy app that continually runs.

In the WordPress context, a practical tip is to use a WordPress performance plugin or theme features to conditionally load scripts. For instance, if you have a contact form plugin that only needs its script on the Contact page, ensure it doesn’t load on every page. Some plugins help queue scripts on pages where they aren’t needed, resulting in less code running overall.

5. Simplify site architecture and user journeys

Our fifth WordPress sustainability tip is a common issue as websites grow over time and more content is added. A well-structured website improves user experience and reduces unnecessary page loads and data transfers.

If a visitor can find what they need in one or two clicks, that’s far fewer pages served (and thus less energy used) than if they meander through a labyrinth of links. Therefore, keeping your site architecture simple and your user journeys short is a sustainability win.

By simplifying site architecture and user flows, you effectively cut off wasteful use of resources at the source. A clean, intuitive WordPress site is inherently more sustainable because it facilitates efficient user behaviour.

Navigation

To achieve this, plan your WordPress site’s navigation carefully. Use clear menu labels and logical categories that align with users’ needs.

Conduct user research, or at least put yourself in your audience’s shoes. What are their top tasks? Make those prominent and straightforward to access.

Avoid burying important information deep in sub-pages or behind complex multi-step processes.

Design services so users can complete their goals with as few interactions as possible across channels.

This means minimising the number of pages or clicks needed for a website. If you can combine what would have been two separate pages into one without harming usability, consider doing so (as long as the combined page isn’t too heavy itself).

Beyond navigation, site structure should avoid redundancy. Don’t have multiple pages that overlap in purpose or content, forcing users to possibly visit both. Consolidate pages where it makes sense. Keep content updated and remove out-of-date pages that might lead users on wild goose chases. If your site has a lot of legacy pages, consider an audit to trim it down to the essentials.

Search and FAQs

Another tip is to provide a good search function on your site if it has a lot of content. Users who can search and immediately jump to a specific page will generate less load than those who might page through categories trying to find something.

Also, consider offering quick links or an FAQ for common queries, which can preempt longer browsing sessions.

Essentially, helping users succeed on the first try not only makes them happier but also avoids the carbon cost of multiple attempts.

Streamline user journeys

When it comes to the actual user journey (the flow of steps for a task), streamline forms and processes. For example, if your WordPress site has a multi-step checkout or sign-up, try to eliminate any steps that aren’t truly necessary.

Every step often means another page load or at least another action. Can you combine steps or use progressive disclosure on one page? That reduces the round-trip.

Forms and checks

Also, ensure that error messages or validations are clear – if a user submits a form with errors and has to redo it, that’s additional processing and page load.

Designing forms that guide the user to correct input the first time avoids resubmissions.

6. Measure and monitor your site’s impact

Our final WordPress sustainability tip is about measurement. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Monitoring your website’s environmental impact over time is an often overlooked aspect of sustainability.

Tracking key metrics can help you identify problem areas and verify whether your optimisations are working. The first step is to get a baseline measurement of your WordPress site’s carbon footprint or energy usage.

Measuring website sustainability

When measuring your WordPress website’s sustainability, focus on the most essential pages and elements.

Start by measuring the pages with the highest traffic. Even small inefficiencies there will have a significant overall impact due to volume. For example, if your homepage gets 50% of your views, ensure it’s as optimised as possible since it’s frequently served.

Next, identify pages with the largest page weight (data size) – even if they’re visited less often, very heavy pages (like a media gallery or a reports page with many PDFs) can contribute disproportionately to your site’s footprint.

Another factor to monitor is where your users are coming from geographically, as this can affect carbon output. The farther the data travels, the more energy is used in transit. If you find you have a lot of international visitors far from your server, using a CDN to serve them can reduce the energy per request. You might measure load times or energy metrics from different regions to ensure your site is sustainable globally, not just locally.

Make measurement an ongoing practice, not a one-time task. Your website likely changes over time – you publish new content, add plugins or features, and your user base might grow. All of these can increase data output and emissions. By regularly checking, you can catch regressions (maybe a plugin update that suddenly loads a large script, etc.) and fix them.

WordPress Website sustainability KPIs

In summary, make sustainability an ongoing KPI for your site.

Establish a baseline, monitor key pages, and iterate. Celebrate improvements, like a reduction in grams of CO2 per pageview after an optimisation, and keep pushing for a smaller footprint.

Your efforts will ensure that as your WordPress site grows and evolves, it remains as environmentally friendly as possible.

Why not start measuring your WordPress website’s carbon footprint?

Before you improve your website’s performance, start by measuring the carbon footprint – then you can report on the carbon footprint savings as you speed up your site.

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