Will Switching from HTTP to HTTPS Increase My Google Rankings?
In the dynamic world of Internet marketing, new ways to improve your website’s search engine rankings are consistently being created by the powers that be. Most recently, Google announced sites opting to secure their web pages by switching from HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) will now be provided a minor boost in the search engine giant’s overall ranking algorithm. How much of a boost? Now that’s the million-dollar question.
As of now, securing your website with HTTPS has not shown to provide a significant increase in your Google rankings. This can likely be attributed to how minute a role HTTPS currently plays in the grand scheme of Google’s algorithm – the search engine has acknowledged that factors such as “high-quality content” still have a greater influence on SEO. That being said, making the switch from HTTP to HTTPS may not be such a bad idea.
Benefits of HTTPS
As a proponent of improving the overall safety of the Web, Google has long been pushing for websites to improve their protection against security breaches. If you’ll recall from earlier, the HTTPS acronym stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, which is essentially a secured variation of the more commonly used HTTP you may see prefacing a website’s domain name in the address bar of your browser. Due to the added layer of security HTTPS provides via encryption, several websites have already made the switch, and many more are following suit in order to stay on par with ever-evolving “best practice” strategies.
By making the transition to HTTPS, you too can follow “best practices” and ensure valuable data on your website is protected by encryption, including email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information submitted through your site. What’s more, Google has also revealed it may strengthen the influence HTTPS has within the overall search results algorithm as time passes, which may lead to improved results down the line should you have an HTTPS site.
Things to Consider
In order to secure your entire website, each internal page must be switched to HTTPS. Reason being, Google recognizes HTTPS on a URL basis as opposed to a site-wide basis. Additionally, any unsecure widgets or plugins on a particular page will compromise the security of the entire page. To avoid this, you must either secure each widget and/or plugin individually or remove them from the page entirely.
When all is said and done, employing “best practices” throughout all aspects of your Internet marketing strategy – which includes everything from your website design to regular content updates – is highly recommended. By doing so, you can help ensure your online visitors are receiving the highest quality experience possible, and the search engine rankings should follow.
If you are interested in securing your website by making the switch from HTTP to HTTPS, or if you have any questions about “best practices” for Internet marketing, contact Rosemont Media today for more information.