As you may already be aware, Google is in the process of sending out an email to all users registered with Google Webmaster tools. The email outlines the upcoming changes to how Google will handle sites without the secure HTTPS protocol. If you haven’t yet received the email, you can see the official Google article here.
We are sending this email to all of our customers to address any concerns you may have and help ensure your website is compliant with Google changes. This is not a compulsory change, however is one which is advised.
What is the HTTPS protocol?
You may be familiar with this already if you have bought and paid for items online. When you navigate to the ‘checkout’ screen to enter payment details…A ‘padlock’ will appear in the address bar of your browser. This is a visual indicator that the page you are now on is being encrypted in order to keep any information you enter such as address and card details secure. The encryption uses an SSL certificate which ensures the connection between your browser and the web server is secure and none of the information can be intercepted.
Historically the HTTPS protocol was slower than the regular HTTP protocol, therefore was only reserved for pages which passed critical data which needed protecting. But due to advances in technology, there’s now virtually no difference between the two protocols in terms of speed. This has seen an increase in websites using HTTPS for all of their pages to increase customer trust and general website security.
What exactly are the changes from Google?
There are two main impacts as a result of the changes from Google. From October 2017, future versions of Google Chrome (version 62 and later) will now show a visible warning to the website visitors that the page they on is ‘Not Secure’ if the HTTPS protocol is not being used.
This is likely to make customers distrust the site and hesitate to continue using the website in fear of any information entered into forms etc. could be at risk.
The other impact of the changes is with Google search engine rankings. From October they will start to potentially penalise sites which do not use the HTTPS protocol in favour of sites which do. This could result in a drop in rankings for some search terms.
How do I migrate my website to HTTPS?
To activate HTTPS on your website, you first need to purchase an SSL certificate. This then needs to be installed on the web hosting server and finally, the website needs updating to ensure all references to HTTP in URLs have been changed to HTTPS.
Purpose Marketingg can manage all or part of this process for you. You could purchase your own SSL certificate, we can install it and update your website URLs. Or we can take care of the whole process.
We offer a full range of SSL certificates to suit the needs/complexity of your website and we can advise on the best one for your needs.
The type and cost of certificate and website configuration depends upon the number of URLs pointing to your website and the complexity of the website. Sites with multiple domains for regions/languages will require a different type of certificate.
The final consideration is to ensure your Google Webmaster account, Google Analytics and any other tracking/CRM software is updated to use the new secure URL.