Do you want to boost your search rankings?
There is no big secret to SEO. Rather there are many little secrets. Here is one more for you.
Google is now considering Secure Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) as a ranking signal. What does that mean to you? You can improve your chances better rankings by using HTTPS throughout your site. HTTPS is the encrypted version of Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Historically, we have only used encryption when transmitting sensitive information such as credit card numbers and other personal or sensitive information. When your site uses HTTP that data passed from your computer is unencrypted. Bad guys can easily sniff the data and get your information.
Using HTTPS, data is always encrypted between your computer and the site you are accessing. Although every encryption can be cracked, HTTPS makes data transfer much more secure.
Google is pushing for HTTPS everywhere on the web. Going forward Google will reward sites for using HTTPS. As Google explains, “over the past few months we’ve been running tests taking into account whether sites use secure, encrypted connections as a signal in our search ranking algorithms. We’ve seen positive results, so we’re starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal”.
Google wants you to use HTTPS all the time.
How do you comply? Easy.
Step 1: Buy a secure certificate.
Step 2: Install SSL certificate.
The one drawback of using HTTPS instead of HTTP is it will slow down your site somewhat. It is a small price to pay for greater security.
I didn’t know that HTTPS gave you a boost in the ranking on Google. I thought the “s” to http:// was meant mostly for financial and e-commerce sites.
How much for the SSL Certificate?
It depends on the certificate, Martin. Do you need one for your website?