What is HTTP, HTTPS and what’s an SSL!?

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol and is the foundation of communicating data on the World Wide Web (www). HTTPS is a secure adaptation of HTTP that uses encryption using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Although HTTPS has been around for a decade many websites, particularly those that don’t have authenticated areas or don’t take credit card payments don’t use them.

So how is this impacting Google?

Based on mock-ups from Google and how chrome looks now, it’s likely to look something like this:

 

What is the impact likely to be if you don’t have HTTPS?

  • Decreased user confidence
  • Decreased conversions
  • Reduction in site traffic
  • Increase in bounce rates

So how to I make my site secure?

Securing your website isn’t as complicated or expensive as you might think and can be set-up by your hosting provider relatively in-expensively.

  • Ensure your site is hosted on a static IP address
  • Purchase an SSL certificate
  • Install & configure the SSL
  • Re-direct your website from http to https (so users don’t access the http version!)

Need help getting your site over to HTTPS?

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