How to Host Google Fonts Locally in WordPress

Loading Google Fonts from Google's servers (fonts.googleapis.com) raises GDPR concerns because visitors' IP addresses are transmitted to Google. Self-hosting the fonts on your own server solves this issue and can also improve performance.

Method 1: Manual Self-Hosting

Step 1: Download the Fonts

Use Google Webfonts Helper to download the font files you need. Select the styles and character sets you require.

Step 2: Upload to Your Server

Upload the font files to your theme directory, e.g., /wp-content/themes/your-theme/fonts/.

Step 3: Add CSS @font-face Rules

@font-face {
    font-family: 'Open Sans';
    font-style: normal;
    font-weight: 400;
    font-display: swap;
    src: url('./fonts/open-sans-v40-latin-regular.woff2') format('woff2');
}

@font-face {
    font-family: 'Open Sans';
    font-style: normal;
    font-weight: 700;
    font-display: swap;
    src: url('./fonts/open-sans-v40-latin-700.woff2') format('woff2');
}

Step 4: Dequeue Google Fonts

Remove the Google Fonts link from the HTML head:

add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', function() {
    wp_dequeue_style('google-fonts');
    wp_deregister_style('google-fonts');
}, 100);

Method 2: Using a Plugin

The plugin OMGF (Optimize My Google Fonts) automates the entire process. It downloads Google Fonts, generates @font-face CSS, and removes the external Google Fonts references.

Verify with InspectWP

After self-hosting your fonts, run a new InspectWP scan. The GDPR section should no longer flag Google Fonts as loading from an external Google server.