SEO Considerations for Moving from HTTP to HTTPS

Moving a website from HTTP to HTTPS is similar to migrating a website to a brand new domain name. Obviously, doing so is very risky for website SEO. For this, this article will provide you with several main considerations.
Back in March 2014, Matt Cutts gave the audience at SMX West a little tip for making your website secure by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or SSL encryption, which became a trend in 2014. Matt hoped that sites using SSL encryption would get a boost in Google rankings, but some Googlers at the time disagreed with him and didn't want that to happen.
 
However, a few weeks ago, Google announced that using SSL encryption would allow websitesImprove your ranking in Google search results.
 
Here's a Twitter update from Matt Cutts on August 7, 2014:


 
Google has put out some clear guidelines about what they expect from websites using HTTPS (aka HTTP over Transport Layer Security or TLS). They also confirmed that they have given a positive signal for the site ranking due to the positive response. But they also note that it's a very "lightweight signal," affecting less than 1% of global search queries. The safe signal will be significantly lighter than other signals, such as high-quality content, but may become a stronger signal in the future.
 
Although Google has published some guidelines, it's still early days. From an SEO point of view, when you move your website from HTTP toHTTPS, there are many other aspects to consider.
 
1. Tips for moving from HTTP to HTTPS.
 
Moving your website from HTTP to HTTPS is like migrating your website to a new URL structure, or even to a brand new domain name. Past experience has taught us that many things can go wrong if not implemented correctly.
 
Google has put forward guidelines for moving to HTTPS in many places, and Jiexin Internet Marketing Agency also touches on this topic. Before you migrate your website to HTTPS, there are a few other aspects of SEO you should consider.
 
First, you need to choose the correct certification level (i.e. 2048-bit certificate) from an approved/trusted provider. Once you've done this, there are some important SEO considerations for a successful migration:


 
1. Make sure all internal links point to the new HTTPS URL.
 
2. Make sure any external links and new social shares point to the new HTTPS URL, if you still link to the old HTTP version, it will cause confusion for Google and your new website will not benefit from it. Google won't be able to decipher which page is the most authoritative and deserves a higher ranking.
 
3. Make sure that all rel=canonical tags in HTML do not point to old HTTP versions. Once you move to HTTPS, these tags must change to match the new HTTPS URL, which helps Googlebot understand which version of the page should be used to rank. If you still point to the HTTP version, Google will also get confused as to which pages should rank in the search results pages.
 
4. Make sure you have worked out the new HTTPS URLs on a page-to-page level, you will get almost the same URL structure, the only change is that "http://" will become "https://".
 
5. Once you've done this, you need to perform a page-level permanent 301 redirect. Don’t 301 redirect all pages to the homepage (whether through global redirects or wild card redirects), as this will ruin your rankings overnight.
 
6. Finally, you need to check yourWebmaster Toolsaccount, and monitor the questions Google may send you about new HTTPS sites.
 
Following these points is your best chance of ensuring your site maintains its current ranking. Why do I say best chance? Because in Google, any major change to a website, even if done correctly, can still result in either short-term or long-term ranking drops or fluctuations. This could come from a minor drop or two, or it could be a major drop that could last for days, weeks or even months. Any changes that correct issues with your site may take a while to roll back, especially given Google's rate of recrawling and reindexing.
 
Here's an example of a website that recently underwent a URL move in mid-2013 and then a domain move in early 2014 that didn't follow the advice above. Note that this is a standard migration, not an HTTP to HTTPS migration, but the move is essentially the same, as you can see, the site is not fully restored:
 
On a side note, and from a business standpoint, it might be a good idea to implement this level of change during a lull this year. If Christmas is a busy time of year for you, then I suggest you wait and see about this change until the new year. That way, if there are any major missteps, or if Google takes a while to update, your income won't suffer too much from Google. This also gives you a bit more time to resolve if there is indeed a bug. In the meantime, wait for Google to re-index and rank new HTTPS URLs.
 
Second, the reasons for not switching to HTTPS.
 
If you already have problems orPenalized by Google, another consideration is not moving from HTTP to HTTPS. If you do this during Google's manual or algorithmic penalties, it may lead Google to think that you are trying to evade penalties. Your site may lose more credibility, making it harder to recover. I suggest you address existing Google-raised issues, whether link-based (penguin penalty) or content-based (panda penalty) before performing HTTPS transfers.
 
In the end, if you think that moving your website to HTTPS will solve existing problems, or is a thing that can be done without any difficulties, you have to think again. In Google's eyes, this is seen as a huge change to the site, and you have to be careful to get things right to avoid damaging your rankings. As for any existing issues or penalties, Google will eventually make a determination and transfer existing penalties to the new URL structure.
 
Remember to consider migrating from HTTP to HTTPS as equally important as migrating URLs or domain names. If you do it wrong, it can adversely affect your Google organic search visibility. It's also important to remember that your website signals are sent to Google. If any signal remains of the old HTTP URLs, or are created in the future, it could confuse Google and rank the page incorrectly. Simplify to help Googlebot find new HTTPS pages on your site, because it takes Google a long time to sort out the confusing signals and make updates in its search results.
 
Finally, predict some ranking issues, as mentioned earlier, even if done correctly, Google can cause ranking fluctuations when Google sorts out these changes. Following these tips below will give your site the best chance of maintaining its current rankings.
 
Remember, if you don't do it right, your Google rankings will be ruined and Google will do a series of cleanups. If you are not sure, or need more support in this area, please get in touch with Jiexin Network Marketing Agency, we will be happy to help.
 
We'd also be interested in hearing about your experience in the comments about moving from HTTP to HTTPS. have you made it? Are you having any problems? Is the original ranking maintained? If not, what work did you do and how long did it take you to get your ranking back?