What is HTTPS?
HTTPS or Hypertext transfer protocol secure is the secure version of HTTP, which is the basic protocol which sends data between a web browser and a website. Compared to HTTP, HTTPS has added a layer of security as it connects through a secure socket layer SSL OR TLS (Transport Layer Security). Basically what this is, it’s a way to encrypt your information that you are sending and receiving from a website. This secures you and protects you from insecure connections.
What happens if a website doesn’t have HTTPS?
It is likely for Internet service providers (ISPs) or other factors to insert content into web pages without the consent of the website owner in websites without HTTPS. This basically takes the shape of advertising, where an ISP seeking to build up revenue injects paid advertising into the webpages of their customers. When this occurs, as expected the profits for the advertisements and the quality control of those advertisements are in no way shared with the website owner. HTTPS avoids the capacity of unmoderated third parties to include advertising into web content.
Tips and Tricks for Using HTTPS
Buying and integrating a new SSL certificate on your site produces many other issues that you may need to overcome. It’s essential to be concious of these errors otherwise you will end up like countless other websites that pay for HTTPS only to have a broken lock indicator next to their URL.
To prevent this, make sure to use these tips and tricks to get the most out of your new website security.
01Select Appropriate SSL Certificate for Your Site
Basically, there are three SSL certificate types to consider for a single domain.
The first one is called Standard Validation. This is the most affordable option available. This will help you to enable the HTTPS protocol and add a lock icon next to your URL. This option will take you to a verification process that confirms ownership of your domain
The next one is called Extended Validation. This verifies ownership of the domain and confirms the registry and ownership of the business. This is a little expensive security option but offers more protection that’s approved for sites that exchange very sensitive information with consumers.
The third is called Organisation Validated. This is similar to Extended Validation but undergoes more actions to examine the entire organisation that owns the domain. The name of the organisation will be seen next to the security indicator and offer an added level of security and trust for those that visit the site.
More significantly, you will require a heightened level of security to save customers that exchange sensitive data or make financial transactions with you online. It’s your duty to protect the confidentiality of your customers. Keep these things in mind and purchase the appropriate SSL certificate for your business requirements.
02Page Speed Optimization must be a Priority
When it comes to your site’s SEO score, mobile friendliness and site speed are major factors already. This is significant to note because with HTTPS added security layers comes that can probably increase loading times on site pages that are secured. When upgrading to HTTPS, a website that features poor optimization and long load times will be worsened.
As this is the case, ensure to have your affairs in order when it comes to page speeds. Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool can be used to check the health of your website and seek for opportunities to increase your speed. Or else, the negative impact of bad load times will possibly cancel any positive benefits earned by the act of switching to HTTPS.
If you maintain best practices and deal with any errors found by Google, then the problem is with your SSL certificate provider. You will have to connect and define your speed matters to cure the problem. You should have no issues with the HTTPS protocol, as long as your website is passing PageSpeed tests. If the issue remains, you may have to move to a different provider for your website security.
The other approach that some websites use is to apply HTTPS only to the pages that manage sensitive data. This consists of checkout and payment pages within your storefront. You must be familiar with using online stores that redirect to separate HTTPS pages for this purpose. Anyhow, addressing outstanding SEO problems on your site before resorting to this is a better idea. You will need your website to be ready for the future if SSL becomes a sitewide standard.
03Redirect HTTP URLs to HTTPS
This is included over several steps but is important to make sure that your visitors lead to the new, updated version of your website. Above all you will have to tell Google Search Console to crawl the HTTPS version of your website. This method will note the secured version of the site as the prime one, assuring that those pages are the ones that display in search engine results pages.
Every URLs on the website will currently point to the HTTP version. This contains videos, pathways to images and files that exist on your website. You will have to manually undergo every URL and update these links to the HTTPS version. If you are not able to rewrite the URL for every link, you must also create 301 redirects that encourage visitors to the HTTPS version if they attempt to access the original HTTP version.
04Update Your Sitemap, Robots.txt, and Disavow File
You must make it as simple as possible for Google’s search crawler to download and understand how your website transforms. You will have to convert all URLs to the HTTPS version. The Robots.txt file must also be updated to assure that it is not blocking Google from crawling the updated pages. If you fail to do so will prevent you from getting the benefits of securing that page.
Similarly, you will have to carry over the data you have concerning disavowed URLs. When you don’t do that, those disavowed domains can find a loophole and start backlinking to your domain using the updated protocol. Submit your file again to Google to carry over your list.
You will primarily have to repeat these kinds of tasks for every aspect of your website. This carries updating internal links to direct to HTTPS versions. You will have to update tracking tools you use like Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Facebook Ads. As soon as possible, by addressing all of this, you will maintain the SEO work you’ve finished thus far and make the transition to your new site go as simple as possible.
05Conduct a Manual Website Test for Errors
Test things out for yourself, after going through the checklist and taking attempts to make your transition a success. Be as if you were a first-time visitor, navigate to the HTTPS version and start exploring everything.
Guarantee that there are no broken links or links that direct to outdated page versions. Click and check every link for your security icon next to the URL. Ensure that no images or videos are broken on any pages. Check any filters to assure that the updated page versions populate appropriately. Ultimately, test any forms or checkout pages with test submissions to guarantee that your company can function business as usual without unnecessary disruptions.
