This article on privacy-focused web design by Paul Jardine and Becky Thorn of sustainably-minded web design agency Root raises some important points about the connection between invasive tracking scripts and the carbon footprint of a website. The negative impact of adding Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager to a site in terms of performance is a common frustration for many. These products, encouraged by Google, often have the worst impact on a site’s performance, affecting Google’s own Core Web Vitals.
External scripts embedded in a website not only require power to download and parse, but also collect data on users that is transferred across the network and stored, contributing to the accumulation of “junk data” in data centers globally. Despite these implications for privacy, performance, and sustainability, adding Google Analytics to a website is often done without much consideration.
Google Analytics trackers are present on 72.6% of the top 75,000 websites.
It may be easy and free to add Google Analytics, but it comes at a cost to users’ privacy. To build trust in the web, we need to move away from treating users as products. Having conversations with website managers and offering lightweight alternatives to Google Analytics can be a step in the right direction. In many cases, client-side analytics may not even be necessary. Providing users with a clear way to opt out of unnecessary data collection is essential to comply with GDPR legislation and improve the user experience.
By removing tracking scripts, websites can eliminate cookie consent notices and offer users a faster, more sustainable browsing experience. To learn more, read the article by Root.
