Is your website already using the HTTPS protocol? If not, now is a good time to join the club — which grows every month — because HTTPS is becoming the standard. Web development agencies have advised their clients to make the switch for a number of reasons that we wanted to look at today.
First of all, what is HTTPS?
HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, which is the foundation of data communication on the Web. An upgrade was made to HTTP known as HTTPS, which is the secure version, meaning that the data sent between your browser and the target website using HTTPS is secure.
Recently, Google changed its Chrome web browser so that it marks web pages that collect passwords or credit cards as “not secure.” At this point, most people who use Chrome have encountered this message several times when visiting sites.
The idea behind the change was that Google wanted to make sure its customers (Chrome users) are aware of the security, or lack thereof, on a site they visit based on a Google search result. This was to be the first step in a multi-tier Google plan to help label HTTP sites more clearly.
Why is it so important?
There are several reasons, the most important being that Chrome is the most-used web browser, followed by Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. With increased concerns about internet security, having your site listed as “not secure” could affect potential transactions.
Google’s intention was to let customers know if a site wasn’t secure before using the site for any kind of password or credit card information. If the site wasn’t secure, there would be reason to fear that a hacker or hackers could intercept information over the unsecured connection.
For some users, it can be very telling to see a “not secure” note from Google when they try to access a site, which could discourage them from continuing on that site — which could be problematic if it’s your business.
A secondary reason to consider the change is the assumption that it will eventually affect your site’s search ranking. Two different studies showed that currently 50% of Google Page One results are populated by secure HTTPS sites. That number is up from about 30% a year ago. Although Google has stated at this point that they had no intention of changing the search algorithm to reward secure sites, they said it was an idea they had considered earlier in the year.
In the end, if you need to switch to using secure SSL certificates, the change can only be seen as positive. While it will take time and possibly money to make a change, if you don’t have in-house web support, you increase your site’s security when your website uses the HTTPS protocol. It’s something that benefits your business and your brand by increasing the level of trust and security people feel on your website. On top of that, using HTTPS can take advantage of a different protocol that can increase your site’s speed, which is always a good thing for ranking and customer satisfaction.
If you’d like to use the HTTPS protocol on your website to enjoy the benefits mentioned in this article for free, don’t hesitate to contact us.