Skip to Main Content
Sustainable Web Design Logo
  • Home
  • Guidelines
  • Emissions
  • Ratings
  • Contact

◂ Web Development guidelines

3.9 Provide information to help understand the usefulness of a page

Web Development

Ensure that search engines, as well as accessibility tooling, can access a project to reduce wasted journeys.

Criteria

  • Metadata and microdata: Machine-testable
    Optimize and only include suitable metadata and microdata.
    • A simple guide to HTML head elements
    • MetaExtensions
    • Structured Data
    • Using microdata in HTML
    • Web Almanac: Sustainability
    • What is Microdata in SEO
  • Search engines: Machine-testable
    Permit appropriate access to search engines while blocking unsustainable robots and scripts.
    • About /robots.txt
    • An Extended Standard for Robot Exclusion
    • Build and submit a sitemap
    • Distribution of bot and human web traffic worldwide from 2014 to 2021
    • How Google interprets the robots.txt specification
    • How to Use Keywords for SEO and Web Sustainability
    • Learn about sitemaps
    • Ledger of Harms
    • Research Shows that Searching for Information at Work Wastes Time and Money
    • Sitemaps Protocol
    • Web Almanac: Sustainability
  • Accessibility aids: Machine-testable
    Provide accessibility and usability aids, such as skip links and signposts, to help users find and navigate content.
    • Breadcrumbs In Web Design
    • Customer Experience Mapping
    • Skip links: what, why, and how
    • Skip Navigation Links
    • The Benefits of Tree Testing Your Navigation
    • What is a Customer Journey Map?

Benefits

  • Accessibility
    Including skip links and other accessibility aids can accelerate the user journey, reducing system resources required and allowing them to find the content they need.
  • Conversion
    Providing clearly navigable structures and sitemaps ensure search engines are better able to index content.
  • Economic
    Enabling quicker visits that complete the user’s objective can help to encourage return visits.
  • Environment
    Reducing the time people spend searching for the information they want and aiding them on their journey will reduce energy use, including battery drain.
  • Social Equity
    Allowing users to achieve objectives faster reduces resource consumption while potentially enhancing user health and well-being.

GRI

  • Materials: Low
  • Energy: Low
  • Water: Low
  • Emissions: Low

View the Guideline

Tags

AccessibilityUIUsabilityMarketingHTMLAI

Share

More web development guidelines

3.1 Set goals based on performance and energy impact

Web Development

3.2 Remove unnecessary or redundant information

Web Development

3.3 Modularize bandwidth-heavy components

Web Development

Learn about W3C’s Sustainable Web Interest Group:

A global community advancing sustainability on the web.

Explore the group

This site is brought to you by

Mightybytes Wholegrain Digital
Website Carbon

This page loaded in 0.25 seconds and emitted just 0.5g of CO2

Visit Website Carbon
Ecograder

How green is your website?

Visit Ecograder
© Copyright Sustainable Web Design 2025. Privacy Policy.