You may be wondering why you should redirect your website from HTTP to HTTPS in the first place. The answer is simple – because as of July 2018, the Google Chrome web browser considered all HTTP-based websites unsafe for users. While Mozilla Firefox has been using such an approach for some time. In other words, soon only sites with an HTTPS prefix will be considered safe.
Therefore, we believe it is important to consider the option of converting the website to HTTPS. The following text provides detailed instructions on how to implement the SSL certificate and how to transition from one protocol to another.
WHAT IS AN SSL CERTIFICATE AND WHO NEEDS IT?
SSL is an acronym for the English name Secure Sockets Layer and indicates that with the passing of this certificate. The website is protected by an additional layer of security. It is a web technology that. With the help of the encryption of sensitive personal information of users. Enables a secure and private connection between individuals and the website or server.
To make it clear, an SSL certificate introduces encryption that makes data transfer more secure and impossible to decrypt without the SSL decryption key built into the HTTPS protocol. In other words, if a third party intercepts the communication, they cannot see any information transmitted on a user-server relationship.
SSL is the most widely used security protocol in the world, and the information it protects is username, email address, home address, credit card number, and anything that the user leaves as personal information in private with a website.
A secure connection, which is protected by the certificate, is required above all for those who work in the field of online banking and electronic business transactions.
Even if you don’t have an online store and don’t collect visitor payment information. An SSL certificate adds credibility to your website and indicates that it is safe to use. This will help position your website better when searching the internet.
Whether you run a multinational company, sell products and services online, or have a presentation site as an individual, switching from HTTP to HTTPS protocol requires a verified SSL certificate.
HOW DO YOU GET AN SSL CERTIFICATE?
Above all, you have to pay attention to who you are buying a certificate from. Namely, only when it comes to companies that have the seal of authorized, certified authority, you can be sure that they will not cheat you.
Almost all SSL Certificate trading in the world is done by four companies – Symantec (which also owns VeriSign, Thawte, and Geotrust ), Comodo SSL, Go Daddy and GlobalSign.
After purchasing the certificate. A verification follows that the person or organization accepting the certificate is actually the owner of a particular site. And only then is the SSL issued. Depending on the type of certificate, the verification can take several hours or several days.
After receiving the certificate, you need to install it on the server where your website is located.
GUIDE TO WEBSITE CONVERSION FROM HTTP TO HTTPS
Am I transferring the entire website at once or gradually? Whether the transition to HTTPS has a negative impact on the SEO optimization results that have already been carried out; whether the page needs to be optimized again; I can successfully complete the transition to HTTPS even though I’m not into programming or web design – these are all issues that can arise when switching from HTTP to HTTPS. We’ll try to answer some of them as part of the detailed instructions we’ve prepared.
The whole process is certainly not easy because there are so many tasks to perform. Just a mistake while switching from one protocol to another could cause the SSL certificate to lose its meaning and the data to remain unprotected. It is therefore important to pay sufficient attention to each individual page.
Anyway, while the process is not easy, don’t neglect the fact that the HTTPS protocol has many advantages, and setting the website on a secure protocol can be so positive that it will do a lot of positive things for the website and the website owners will bring.
Guide to redirecting HTTP to HTTPS protocol
- Do a detailed analysis of the current state of the site while it’s still based on HTTP
- Start the process of migrating to HTTPS on the test server to provide a test area and avoid errors in the online version of the site. This is not mandatory, but it is certainly recommended
- Read all of the HTTPS documentation related to the content delivery network or the distribution system for servers distributed over the Internet ( content delivery network, CDN )
- Buy an SSL certificate for the site and install it on the server
- If it is a website with a small number of pages, prepare a list of all the URLs on your website using the current HTTP structure
- Replace all HTTP URLs with HTTPS addresses if this is a static version of the website
- Redirecting all traffic to a version of the site ( https: // www or just https: // ) with the help of a permanent redirect 301 to the server or via the .htaccess file
- Update all links in the content of your pages. You can do this in a database by simply finding keywords and replacing them. All internal links should therefore begin with the prefix HTTPS
- Also, update the references in established forms on the website ( template ). It is important that everything referring to the text, images. And links are provided by the HTTPS protocol
- Update canonical addresses that are displayed in the HTML code under rel = “canonical ” and that show the search engines that the URL is a master copy of a page. Most content management systems (CMS) do this automatically but double-check each mark
- Update the so-called hreflang addresses if you have a multilingual site. In the HTML code, such a specification for English is, for example, ” hreflang =” en “. And in this case, CMS will most likely be automatic but check for yourself too
- Update any external plug-ins that you are using on the site ( plug-in, module, add-on) and make sure everything is working properly
Change the settings in the CMS, for which you will find instructions in the internal manual and the data transfer documentation
Note: Now that you have a full HTTPS version of your site. Add it to all the versions of the management tools you use in web browsers to load the new sitemap into it. This is a very important step in SEO optimization as it tells the search engines that there is a new, secure version of your site. If not, Google, Bing, and other search engines will index the old HTTP version.
- When a new version of the site is set up, the next step is to do a detailed analysis of that version to make sure that something is missing and that all existing links are now HTTPS based
- Also, update links that were previously redirected to your website. The most common mistakes happen in this segment. As the text on the Search Engine Land portal explains. This is why particular attention should be paid to old links
- Update the website map to use future URL versions with HTTPS protocol
- Update the txt files to include the new sitemap
- It is desirable to activate HSTS or the so-called strict transport security for HTTP ( HTTP strict transport security, HSTS ). This is a web-specific option that uses the site’s special header to communicate with web browsers. If the browser receives information about the presence of such a header. It prevents any data transmission via the HTTP protocol and only uses HTTPS
- Activate the online protocol for checking the certificate ( online sertificate status protocol, OCSP ). This allows the server to check the validity of the security certificate you have in order to get rid of the web browser of this task and thus speed up the connection
- Enable support for HTTP / 2
- Create a contact test form to order a product or service
If you’ve done most of the previous steps on the test server. Now is the time to release the new version of the site.
Then there are a few more steps.
- On the web analytics platform and in the webmaster control panel. Enter the new HTTPS address of your site and set it as the default
Update the data for any paid digital marketing campaigns you’ve started as well as the ones you want to start - Customize all the tools you use during SEO optimization to only use the HTTPS protocol in this segment
- Do not forget to edit the links and establish the HTTPS protocol for all profiles you on social networks have
HOW DOES HTTPS AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS OPERATIONS
As we mentioned earlier, Google’s Chrome browser will soon only consider HTTPS-based websites to be secure. In other words, if you continue to use the HTTP protocol and Google records your website as insecure. It can have a negative impact on your online business.
CONCLUSION
Unfortunately, there is always the possibility of a hacker attack on a server or an entire network. There are also weaknesses in the software and, depending on the version of the certificate. The even lower performance of the SSL encryption is possible. Therefore, there is no guarantee that your website is 100% protected against unwanted attacks, misuse, or theft of confidential data using the HTTPS protocol.
One thing is for sure, however, if you switch to secure HTTPS sites, you will have fewer concerns. Your visitors will not have to worry about the security of their data, and your web pages will be recognized by browsers and browsers as reliable, credible, and reliable as Sides of integrity.
And you have to agree: something like that is not at all meaningless.
