One hot topic amongst website owners is whether it’s a good idea to switch to a secure version of their site: that is, one with an https:// address instead of an http:// one. An https site offers an added layer of security which keeps your browsing information private, whereas an http site is prone to “eavesdropping attacks“.
Does a secure site really allow for a better user experience, more security, and improved SEO? And is it worth the effort to make the switch over from a non-secure site? Here’s our take on the matter.
How To Switch To An HTTPS Site
As a disclaimer, don’t attempt to switch to an https site yourself unless you are very competent and confident with the techy side of your website.
You must purchase an SSL certificate for your domain, install it on your server, and then activate it for your website. Then, you need to change all of your website URLs from http to https. This involves moving WordPress to https, setting up a permanent 301 redirect, and informing Google of the change.
Whew! If you don’t know what all that means, consider hiring an SEO agency in Melbourne to take care of it for you instead.
Here are a few online tutorials for making the switch to https:
- Should you switch your site to HTTPS?
- SEO considerations when moving from HTTP to HTTPS
- Complete guide – how to migrate from HTTP to HTTPS
Should You Switch To HTTPS?
Here’s what we think: if you conduct any transactions or host user-sensitive information such as logins and contact details on your site, then you should absolutely look into securing your site and switching to https. That way, your customers can feel at ease knowing their passwords, credit card details, and other personal information is safely stored, encrypted, and non-hackable. Secure sites build more trust.
However, if you don’t store any user data on your site, then switching to https is not necessary and can cause more headache than it’s worth. If you know exactly what you’re doing and are confident that your site won’t end up with a slew of broken links, then by all means go for it. But odds are that something will go wrong and you’ll ultimately end up spending time troubleshooting.
It’s been said that secure sites might have an SEO advantage over non-secure sites, but at the moment this edge in search performance is so tiny that it’s hardly even worth noting. In our experience, we’ve seen websites actually take an SEO hit when they switch from http to https, and usually this is because the process isn’t completed correctly.