Nowadays, we turn to the web for almost everything, from buying to selling and to socialise.  So, it makes sense that when your online security matters. Therefore, being secured also applies to your website.

It is necessary, in order to protect yourself and your customers, that your website should be https secured.  Cyber-attacks are on the increase and more often than not small businesses are a target of this crime.

Why should you care

So, what is the difference between and why should you care?  Basically, it all boils down to an encrypted https secured website ensuring your website’s security in 2019.  Failing to ensure that your website is https can have a severe effect on your website’s ranking and damage your SEO and digital marketing campaigns. Further, there are several SEO Company Chester available in the market and you can seek their help for boosting the traffic of your website. Less traffic means less business.

Taking a digital marketing course is a good idea to secure your website and enhance your SEO and digital marketing campaigns.

Https vs http

Https protects your website’s users from cyber-attacks and their information being stolen, like credit card or log in details.  In its basic form https encrypts information sent between a browser to a web server.

Http (hypertext transfer protocol) is used to transfer information on the web.  This form of transferring information uses less data by disregarding previous web sessions.

Https requires security when exchanging information like credit card numbers log ins and was established to sanction secured transactions.

The key difference between https and http is security.  Https is sued to any site to secure information, especially ecommerce sites to protect transactions.

SEO advantages

Google’s reasons for recommending the switching to https site has many SEO benefits to consider such as:

  • Security – Every business needs increased web security and https authenticates websites and server communication.  https also lessens potential third-party damage.
  • Referral data – As part of your overall SEO and digital marketing strategy, referral data makes the decision to switch to https easier to make.
  • Increased rankings – Switching to a https secured website will not dramatically increase your website’s ranking, but it will be effective over time.

How to switch to https

Online security has fast become a top priority for all online businesses, and we understand that it is important that our data is safe.  With website security top of mind, you really should switch to https.

To switch to https, you need to be familiar with the backend of a website and the basic steps are listed below:

  • Purchase an SSL certificate – these small data files when installed on a web server activates the https protocol and allows secure connections from a server to a browser
  • Install SSL certificate – once the SSL certificate has been installed configure the SSL certificate.
  • Do a backup – perform a full backup of your site.
  • Configure – all your hard internal links within your website must be configured from http to https.
  • Redirect – any external links must be redirected to https, such as directory listings.
  • Update links – update all links used in your digital marketing such as email links.
  • Https in Google – set up an https site in Google Search Consoles and Google Analytics.

It should be noted that for small websites some of the above mentioned points will not apply.

Is it worth switching?

There has been quite a debate on whether it is worthwhile switching from a http to a https secured website.  Google’s announcement that https is a ranking signal has fuelled this debate even more. As with any big change in your SEO or digital marketing structure apprehension is reasonable.

With the increase in cyber-attacks, there has been a push towards making the switch and responsibility for the security of websites is being placed on the website holders.  

As with any technological change there are a few concerns outlined with migrating from a http to a https website.  A lot of these concerns are real such as, what if my website rankings decrease, or what if the redirects are messed up?

There may be a slight drop in the SERPS rankings related to the switch, but this is likely to rectify itself with time.  But on the flip side a secured website is a huge plus.