HTTPS Switchover – Safer on the Internet

Author Kurt Schauer

The Internet is to become more secure – the industry has been discussing HTTPs for a long time. Until now, website operators who do not transmit sensitive data have been able to ignore the secure hypertext transfer protocol. But since this year at the latest, the time seems to have come to switch every domain to HTTPs.

The reason for this is simple:

Since January 2017, Google has been using the Chrome browser to mark all non-secure input fields and, in the future, all HTTP URLs - regardless of the content they offer - as insecure if they are not encrypted via SSL. This is likely to have a negative impact on the CTR in the search results. Google officially added SSL encryption to the list of ranking factors.

According to Google, this is intended to promote (data) security on the Internet - this is in line with its commitment to "Let's Encrypt". Studies show that switching from HTTP to HTTPS actually brings significant ranking advantages for websites.

Backgrounds:

“Hypertext Transfer Protocol” is used to transfer data over the Internet.

When a website is called up in the browser, the browser sends a request (HTTP request) to a server. This request is processed by the server and the corresponding files for displaying the website are sent back to the browser (HTTP response). SSL stands for "Secure Sockets Layer" and describes an encrypted data transfer between client and server.

If a website is encrypted via SSL certificate, it is ensured before data transmission that the requesting client (browser that accesses the website) is actually connected to the server.

Once the secure connection has been successfully established and completed, data flow from that point onwards occurs via the HTTPS security protocol.

Normal HTTP traffic, on the other hand, is unencrypted. A connection via HTTPS guarantees website users that data cannot be read or intercepted by third parties.

Why should a website be switched to HTTPS?

Security is certainly the most important reason. Nobody wants sensitive data to be intercepted by third parties. In addition to security, however, there is another reason: search engine optimization. Google officially announced that an HTTPS encrypted connection is used as a ranking signal.

Since the end of 2015, Google has been trying to automatically access the website under HTTPS.

If it can be accessed using the encrypted protocol, Google will give preference to it. The SEO software provider Searchmetrics has conducted an analysis on the topic of HTTPS. The analysis is about whether there is a connection between an HTTPS encrypted website and visibility in search engines.

The database is based on a keyword set that has been monitored since 2012 and consists of 30.000 selected keywords. The analysis showed that since Google's announcement, there has been an advantage for websites if the connection is made via the HTTPS protocol. The trend clearly shows that the values are exclusively in the positive range. This means that the connection for the visibility of HTTPS websites is also statistically proven. Further information on the analysis is available at Searchmetrics.de.

What are the opportunities for a changeover?

Because encryption is a ranking signal, switching to HTTPS will definitely be worthwhile.

Google rewards a change with better rankings.

A good opportunity to be one step ahead of the competition. If the website is switched to HTTPs, this will have a positive effect on the website's users.

The green lock in the browser's address bar indicates whether a secure connection exists. This is important for operators of online shops, for example, because it conveys security.

Switch now. Let us advise you. We will ensure a smooth switchover.