GreenSEO October 2024 BrightonSEO fringe event slides.

The slides from the GreenSEO October 2024 event.

1. #greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

2. About
GreenSEO
#greenSEO

3. The
GreenSEO
manifesto
1.We will do all within our
power and influence to make
the web a greener place.
2.Each month we pledge to take
one action each towards this
goal.
3.We share, open source, support
and help advise each other.
4.We talk to people about the
impact of the web on the
environment and invite
like-minded souls to join the
greenSEO movement.
#greenSEO

GreenSEO

4. The
GreenSEO
website
#greenSEO

https://greenseo.org/
GreenSEO

5. Apply to
speak at
greenSEO
#greenSEO

GreenSEO

6. Impact
#greenSEO

GreenSEO

7. THE INTERNET
=4% OF
GLOBAL GHGS*
*Frédéric Bordage 2019
#greenSEO

GreenSEO

8. Energy
use
#greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

GreenSEO

9. Data centers!!!
#greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

10. DIGITAL are the bad guys!!!
#greenSEO

11. #greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

GreenSEO

12. #greenSEO

GreenSEO Wikipedia go dark mode

13. #greenSEO

GreenSEO Google is taking bold action

14. #greenSEO

GreenSEO

15. #greenSEO

GreenSEO
Heidi plants some seeds…

16. Our asks
of you
#greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

GreenSEO

17. Plant
some
seeds
#greenSEO

GreenSEO
Do one
thing a
month

18. The
GreenSEO
website
#greenSEO

https://greenseo.org/
GreenSEO

19. Bookmark
your
everyday
pages
#greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

GreenSEO

20. 1 search = half
a kettle
boiling*
#greenSEO

*Google

21. Never be
afraid to
just ask
#greenSEO

GreenSEO
All we
have had
is “yes”
so far

22. Join us
#greenSEO

GreenSEO

24. #greenSEO

GreenSEO

25. #greenSEO

GreenSEO
●Case Study: Rowan Chernin: Adventures
in dark mode - introducing
sustainability into user experience.
●Software: Aaron James, Screaming Frog:
Intro of Screaming Frogs carbon
emissions measurement feature
●Practical: Ben Meyer, BM Digital: How
to do a carbon audit on your website

26. Adventures in dark
mode - introducing
sustainability into
user experience
Rowan Chernin
GreenSEO
LinkedIn | Rowan Chernin

27. Can we h a greener web experience?

…and deliver our Marketing message
on a platform that uses less
energy?

\zxzxzx

28. DARK MODE

29. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Where do we start?

How do we measure a greener web experience?

What is the value of Dark Mode to the business
and customers?

Internal buy-in

30. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Value to the business


Reduce energy use

Internet uses 830 million
tons of carbon a year: if
the internet was a country,
it would rank 7th in
electricity usage



SEO Value

Speed is a Google
ranking factor and
energy usage may be a
ranking factor in the
future



Customer experience

Faster user experience and
less time wasted navigating
a page, use less energy in
dark mode

31. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Faster site speed = less energy


https://ecoping.earth/blog/core-web-vitals-and-sustainability



Core Web Vitals:

Time it takes for hero image/video to
paint onto screen (Largest Colourful
Paint – LCP)

How long it takes for browser to react to
a user interaction (First Input Delay –
FID)

Measure of moving page elements e.g. Ad
appears and content shifts down
(Cumulative Layout Shift – CLS)

32. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Measuring a Green Web Experience



Web pages measured on their
energy usage – if we get this
right, the customer uses less
energy


https://digitalbeacon.co/

33. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Customers with OLED devices use
5% to 30% less energy when
viewing a web page in dark mode

https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECE/News/2022/shedding-light-on-dark-mode-to-save-energy

34. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Unlike LEDs which has one light
permanently on, OLEDs only use
power when activated to
illuminate the light areas of
the webpage

https://engineering.purdue.edu/ECE/News/2022/shedding-light-on-dark-mode-to-save-energy

35. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Corporate gamification



Beacon measures the carbon used for each new visitor:

36. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Win over stakeholders


In favour of dark
mode
Yes: 89%




Internal poll, easy to generate with quick results:


Is a good way to
reduce energy
consumption
overall?
Yes: 100%





Is the page harder
to read?
No: 67%

37. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
Is the page harder
to read?
No: 67%

38. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO



Stakeholders wanted to switch
between light and dark mode

39. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO



Results:


Page went live with toggle

Localised into different languages

Dark mode on the roadmap

40. Selling the value to a
corporate
#GreenSEO
What is dark mode

Why dark mode web designs are gaining popularity

Difference between OLEDs and LED devices

Dark mode research data

Google on dark mode

Useful links:

41. #greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

42. Intro & demo of
Screaming Frogs
carbon emissions
measurement feature
SEO and Data Manager
Screaming Frog
GreenSEO
LinkedIn | Aaron James

43. Who am I?
Aaron James
SEO & Data Manager at
Screaming Frog
Iʼm involved in SEO Strategy,
Tech SEO, Spider Support &
Training

44. Screaming
Frog
We create industry software:
- SEO Spider
- Log File Analyser
Surprisingly, weʼre also an
SEO (PPC/PR) Agency!

45. Why Consider a Greener SEO Approach?

46. BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
4.1 billion people use the internet (53.6% of the
Global Population)

47. BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
Gadgets, the internet and the systems
supporting them account for 3.7% of Global
Greenhouse Emissions according to estimates
in 2020

48. BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
3.7% is comparable to the global airline industry

49. BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
This is predicted to double by 2025

50. By 2040 Projections Estimate Greenhouse
Emissions from the IT Industry will Reach 14%
BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think

51. The Global Warming Threshold Target aims to
reduce emissions by 43% by 2030
BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think

52. So, Every Little Helps

53. How Can Sites Help to Reduce Emissions?

54. BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
Evaluate your site to understand carbon ratings
and CO2 emission estimates

55. BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
Work with SEOs and web developers to create
more efficient, lower carbon websites

56. BBC Climate Change Article 2020: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think
Consider using green website hosting

57. How Can the SEO Spider Help?

58. The CO2

(mg) metric uses the C02.js library provided by the Green Web Foundation to calculate CO2 emissions.

The CO2.js library estimates carbon emissions produced by moving data over the internet using the data transfer size.


Estimate CO2 Emissions by URL
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/issues/validation/high-carbon-rating/

59. The Carbon Rating metric is calculated using the Sustainable Web Design Model combined with the CO2 (mg) metric.
Carbon Rating Benchmark by URL

60. The Carbon Rating metric is a benchmark to help the everyday user understand the CO2 (mg) metric - Anything larger than 2.4 MB is a failure.
Carbon Rating Benchmarks
https://sustainablewebdesign.org/digital-carbon-ratings/

61. Viewing the
Data
View the Validation tab to
view data by URL.
Select the ʻHigh Carbon
Ratingʼ filter from the
dropdown menu.

62. Setting Up the SEO Spider

63. Basic Setup
– JavaScript
Rendering
JavaScript Rendering must be
enabled to view the Carbon
Rating and use the ʻHigh
Carbon Ratingʼ filter.
Otherwise, it wonʼt be
calculated!
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/tutorials/crawl-javascript-seo/

64. Account for
Device Type
Does your site get the majority
of traffic from mobile devices?
Your analysis may wish to
account for device type to see
if there are significant
changes between desktop,
tablet and mobile versions of
the site.

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/tutorials/crawl-javascript-seo/

65. Account for
Specific Bots
Your analysis may also wish to
account for different bots.
Some sites can return data
differently based on the bot
crawling the site.
ʻChromeʼ would most
accurately represent a
browser and what is rendered.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#user-agent-2

66. Account for
Green Hosting
(If Being used!)
Enable this option if youʼre
aware a website uses green
energy hosting.

You can check if your site runs
on green energy with the
Green Web Foundations Green
Web Check


https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/green-web-check/

67. Consider
Crawling
URLs Blocked
by Robots.txt
Robots.txt controls which
URLs are crawled by bots.
ʻIgnore Robots.txtʼ would be
most accurate – this is due to
what is being rendered on
page.
Sites block resources for
various reasons, but Chrome
will still load and render them
– it ignores robots.txt.
You can always exclude URLs!
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#ignore-robots-txt

68. Account for
Cookies
We ignore GA tags by default,
but these also have weight
and therefore CO2 emissions.
Enabling ʻCookiesʼ accounts
for these.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#cookie-storage

69. Custom
JavaScript
Snippets – Page
Scroll
Enabling the JavaScript
Snippet ʻPage scrollʼ would
provide the most accurate
results by emulating a user
visiting the page.
This ensures additional assets
are loaded such as
lazy-loaded resources.
Another example is when
e-commerce stores load
additional products on user
scroll.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/tutorials/how-to-crawl-with-chatgpt/

70. Custom
JavaScript
Snippets – Page
Scroll
Control the number of times a
page is scrolled and the wait
time between scrolls.
See this in action by toggling
the globe icon, entering a URL
and clicking ʻTestʼ.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/tutorials/how-to-crawl-with-chatgpt/

71. Incorporating API Data

72. Connecting
GA4 API
Sign in, choose your account,
property and data stream as
required.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#google-analytics-integration

73. GA4 Date
Range
Consider what date range to
use for your analysis.
A year may help to consider
seasonality for the first time
review.
Consider if content updates or
site changes have been made
in your date range.

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#google-analytics-integration

74. GA4 Metrics
ʻSessionsʼ and ʻviewsʼ are enabled
by default.
Metrics such as ʻviews per sessionʼ
are not enabled by default.
ʻViewsʼ will likely provide the most
accurate metric for comparisons.
You can find out more about
analysing the data from Ben
Meyerʼs Carbon Audit article.


https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#google-analytics-integration

75. GA4 Filters
Consider the dimension type:
ʻsession default channel
groupʼ – reports each separate
channel the user arrives on
the site by.
Finally, select the channel.
ʻCurrentlyʼ, you can only pull
one channel per crawl –
multiple crawls would be
required for additional data.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/configuration/#google-analytics-integration

76. Segmenting URLs Based on Data

77. Label URLs on scale for quick grouping and analysis.


Segmenting URLs

78. View
Segment
Summary
Data
Quickly filter URLs by
segment.
Get an overview of a segments
indexability, issues, warnings
and opportunities.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/tabs/#segments-2

79. Segment
Rules
Segment using almost any
metric available in the SEO
Spider.
This includes:
API Data
Custom Extraction
Custom JavaScript Extraction
Data
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/tabs/#segments-2

80. Segment by
Carbon
Rating
Set rules using practically any
crawl metric in the SEO
Spider.
Use Regex to streamline your
rules.


https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/tabs/#segments-2
Use ʻMatches Regexʼ and the OR operator (|) to prepare rules quickly.

81. Segment by
API Data
Combine segments and your
API data to help prioritise
URLs to optimise.



https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/tabs/#segments-2

82. Automating Crawls

83. Automating
Crawls
Set a crawl to run
automatically whether itʼs
daily, weekly, monthly or just
once, any time of the day.
Add, duplicate, edit and
delete scheduled crawls.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/#scheduling

84. Automating
Crawls
Task name is the individual
crawl name. Using the same
project name allows you to
group multiple crawls under
one folder.
Different project names will
create different folder
groupings.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/#scheduling

85. Automating
Crawls
Set your crawl options:
- Crawl Mode: Spider or List
mode
- Crawl Seed: starting URL
- Crawl Config: add custom
crawl configuration settings
- Auth Config: add password
configuration settings
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/#scheduling

86. Automating
Crawls
Enable any API you want.
- GA, GA4, GSC can be
configured directly in tab.
- Other APIs will require to be
connected and data options
selected via a custom
configuration file.

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/#scheduling

87. Automating
Crawls -
Gsheets
Exporting specific data to
Google Sheets allows greater
flexibility.
Basic export settings only
require:
- Google Drive Account
- Format: Gsheet
- Your specific tab, bulk export
or report

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/#scheduling

88. Automating
Crawls –
Looker Studio
Export data in a format that
can be readily used in Looker
Studio.
Select Configure the metrics
you want to include.
The ʻHigh Carbon Ratingʼ
metric provides an overview
of the number of pages
classed as having a high
carbon rating.
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/#scheduling

89. Automating
Crawls -
Looker Studio
Exporting data for Looker Studio
provides data in a dated overview
form allowing you to integrate a single
Gsheet thatʼs updated over time.

https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/#scheduling

90. Thank You!

91. #greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

92. How to
conduct a
website
carbon audit
Ben Meyer
BM DIGITAL
GreenSEO
LinkedIn | Ben Meyer
benmeyer.digital

93. Hi! I’m Ben

94. What we’ll cover
●Principles of a low carbon website
●The differences the configuration can
make to the output of a crawl
●Why these are important
●Accounting for ALL traffic, bots
included
●Tailoring your crawl to your website
●Data & Deliverables
●AI & scale of the problem

95. What we won’t
cover today
●The digital carbon emissions
calculation model itself and
any perceived shortcomings
●Third Scope Emissions
●The difference between Co2
and Co2e
●The complications of
Content Delivery Networks
(ask me at the end!)
(Because I will be of ZERO
help!)

96. Who here’s a techy?!

97. What makes a low carbon website?
Basic Principles:
●What happens when you put a url in your address bar or
click a link?



Source: LinkedIn

98. What makes a low carbon website?
●Sustainable Web Design guidelines
●Golden rule: Aim for each page to load in at
or below 1MB
●When we start crawling, we will get different
results depending on a number of factors.
●This can seem overwhelming at first, but it
will become quite logical, allowing for highly
custom and more accurate website carbon
crawls at scale.
●Full calculation model available on
Sustainable Web Design website along with
the official guidelines from the World Wide
Web Consortium's (W3C) Sustainable Web
Design community group.

99. JS Rendering
Screaming Frog:
“This means pages are fully rendered in a
headless browser first, and the rendered
HTML after JavaScript has been executed
is crawled.”*
Important because:
-Renders more resources than plain
text
-Essential for scrolling snippets &
advanced crawling
*Source:
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-
spider/tutorials/crawl-javascript-seo/

102. Custom JS Snippet:
Scrolling the page
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART
●The problem of the 1mm gap
●All website carbon measurement
tools use some way of calculating
page weight.
●Don’t trust Google Lighthouse!
○THE READINGS ARE
WRONG!!!

https://allrecipes.com

103. Custom JS Snippet:
Scrolling the page
THE MOST IMPORTANT PART
PROOF!!

104. Green Hosting
Calculation
Super easy - if it does, turn it
ON, if it doesn’t - DON’T!
Complicated slightly by CDNs.
Check with your server
providers or infrastructure
teams or use the Green
Website Foundation.

105. Include or
Exclude Cookies
Everybody HATES Cookieeeess!!
Compliance issues, errors, technical
headaches, cost.
I saw a client’s website improve from
a B to an A, purely by removing 5
trackers.
Use them wisely, avoid them if you
can and have a process or strategy in
place for removing them once you’re
done using them.

106. Respect or reject
robots.txt
Might be tempted to crawl
EVERYTHING but stop!
ASK yourself: What is there to gain by
not respecting robots.txt ?
Check with the devs - usually, unless
there’s significant content behind this
that is being actively used e.g. a
headless CMS, it will probably be best
to respect whatever’s there.
You also won’t be able to correlate
this with GA Views data very easily.

107. Device & Browser
Emulation
Important because:
-Websites render differently on
different devices
Screaming Frog can emulate a range
of devices & browsers. This is useful
because different hardware and
software load pages differently and
you will see different results.
Could run several crawls as different
devices and browsers depending on
the makeup of your audience over a
year.

108. Tailoring your crawl to your client
●Identify your client’s digital audience
○How many hits?
○Most common events
○Is it transactional? Are there paths that users have to follow to use the
platform? E.g. E-Commerce, Membership, Ticketing System etc.
○Are there any protected areas to account for?
■Are these considered valid for the crawl?
○Are they visiting on mobile, desktop or tablet?
■What are you trying to drive towards?

109. WHO

WHAT

WHY

HOW
Tailoring your crawl to your client

110. Tailoring your crawl to your client
●WHO is your client? Will they be
interested?
●WHO will they be presenting this
data back to? What will THEY be
interested in?
●WHAT would be the real world
impact of any improvements?
●WHY has your client asked you to
do this?
●HOW can this save them money or
help them make more?
●HOW can this help them achieve
their Mission Objective or their
Website Objectives?
●HOW are you going to shape your
findings into an action plan?
○It will likely appear very
technical.
●WHAT resources do they have to
take meaningful action?

111. Tailoring your crawl to your client
Interesting crawls to run might be:
-A close to fully accurate crawl as you can manage using all the data available
e.g. opt in rates for cookies, GA4 traffic makeup, respecting robots.txt, loading
all videos etc.
-Purchase path analysis
-Cross referencing server logs to account for bot traffic.
Screaming Frog SEO is the only crawler (that I know of) to be able to crawl at
such scale with such accuracy.

Disclaimer: Make it clear that this will always be an estimation only.

112. Deliverables: A Starting Point

Let’s go to Looker Studio!
My FREE Looker
Studio Template

113. Blending Crawl Data with Live GA4 Data

114. A quick note on the scale of the problem
Your website is not insignificant - but in the context of your entire organisation’s
carbon emissions, you might find that it’s not as significant as other factors.
Don’t feel bad if your website isn’t great right now. Realistically, it’s only one part
of your company's total carbon emissions and it’s important to identify the
biggest contributors.
Every online call you make, ChatGPT query you submit, training video you watch,
company laptop you dispose of, train ticket you buy, Pret A Manger purchased -
has an emission.
Put your effort where it stands to have the most impact.
Next, some more worrying stats…

115. Video Content Emissions
●Tik Tok produces 2.63g of Co2 per
minute, per user. (Source)
●TikTok releases 40.151 tons of carbon
dioxide per day across its user base
(Source)
●It has 1bn monthly active users.
Assuming a third of them are daily users,
TikTok emits “more CO2e each year than
it would take to fly the entire population
of London to New York and back.”
Approx. 13.6m tonnes for flights (8m
population of London, 1.7 tonnes per flight)
Approx. 14.6m tonnes for TikTok

116. Video Content Emissions
-In 2022 Netflix reported that fans clocked up more than 6bn hours
watching the top 10 shows in the first 28 days after each show was
released.
-The Carbon Trust says that the European average for streaming is about
55g / 56g of Co2e per individual, per hour.
-Based on this estimate this means that the Co2 emitted in 2022 from this
activity “equates to about 1.13bn miles (1.8bn km) of travel in a car – the
approximate equivalent of the current distance between Earth and
Saturn.” - The Guardian | 2021
-In 2024, Netflix reported over 100 billion hours, meaning that roughly, on
the same calculation, we could make the journey to Saturn… 22 times ??????

117. Artificial Intelligence Emissions
-A Google search emits 0.2g of Co2 (according to Google in 2009). Today, a
ChatGPT query is estimated to emit 4.32g of Co2.
-This is 21.6 times more emissions and just 16 queries would be the
equivalent to boiling a kettle.
-“If our scenario unfolds for a 10x increase in AI and data-center energy
needs, the latter could consume about 17% of US electric power
generation in 2030…” - Bloomberg Intelligence
-Microsoft just bought a Nuclear Power Plant to power their AI data
centers.
-“The company will purchase the plant’s entire electric generating
capacity over the next 20 years.” This is “enough to power 800,000 homes
every year”. - MIT Technology Review & Bloomberg

118. Scale is the problem.

It’s also the solution.

119. You CAN make a difference
https://dodonut.com/

120. Recommended Experts
-Wholegrain Digital
-Liam McLaney - Branch Agency
-Josh Stopper - Beleaf - AUS based
-Nick Lewis - Lead Developer at Leap
-Leap.eco
-Jerome Toole
-Mightybytes - US based
-Andy Davies
-Scott Stoneham - Digital Carbon Online

121. Any Questions?

Sources for all data available on next few slides.

122. Thank you
122
benmeyer.digital | [email protected]

123. Sources:
Website Carbon Auditing
-How to conduct a website carbon audit using Screaming Frog SEO | BM DIGITAL
-The 1mm gap | Wholegrain Digital
-Green Web Foundation
-Website Carbon
-Looker Studio data explorer of Twickenham Choral - compares 11 crawls of the
same site under different configs
-Vercel | How UX demands and DIY infrastructure headaches shaped the next
generation of web application delivery

124. Sources:
Video - data between 2021 and 2024
-Social Media Emissions | Statista
-Social Media Carbon Emissions Research | Bankless Times
-Social Media Emissions | Greenspector 2021
-Tiktok Emits 3 times more carbon than Facebook per minute of use | Bankless
Times 2023

125. Sources:
Artificial Intelligence Emissions & Energy Usage data
-Today Explained | AI’s nuclear option - Spotify Podcast
-Microsoft AI needs so much power it's tapping site of US Nuclear Meltdown -
Bloomberg
-Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up
the ruse? - The Guardian - 2024
-ML Co2 Impact Calculator
-Using GPT4 consumes up to 3 bottles of water to generate 100 words - Tom’s
Hardware

126. #greenSEO

@creativebloomUK

127. #greenSEO

GreenSEO

128. Pub
#greenSEO

GreenSEO

129. #greenSEO

@creativebloomUK