Google indexing HTTPS pages by default

[atom]

I'd noticed there were many https results for a while now, but what I didn't realise was that it had become policy, and

...we also started giving a slight ranking boost to HTTPS URLs in search results last year.

https://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/indexing-https-pages-by-default.html

In Augost 2014 they stated that it was "only a very lightweight signal", "But over time, we may decide to strengthen it...".

Is anyone aware if https has become more significant and worthwhile in terms of ranking? Are you advising clients to use it?

 

[chris]

Yes, advising clients for most new sites where user data is captured or may be captured in the future.

There are a lot of potential issues switching well established non-SSL sites to SSL, so it's hard to tell the exact impact. There are a lot of stats out there that report on shifts, but a lot of that was skewed due to Wikipedia switching to SSL and them ranking number 1 for more terms than any other website.

Google is promoting SSL in a major way, so I think it's safe to say that the benefits will only increase. A few of us were talking to one of the Google Engineering team that worked on the SSL algo change at SMX in Sydney and he made it clear this is the direction they're taking.

Indexing HTTPS by default is perhaps yet another sign.

 

[Cooper Mills DomainLawyer]

Yes, advising clients for most new sites where user data is captured or may be captured in the future.

There are a lot of potential issues switching well established non-SSL sites to SSL, so it's hard to tell the exact impact. There are a lot of stats out there that report on shifts, but a lot of that was skewed due to Wikipedia switching to SSL and them ranking number 1 for more terms than any other website.

Google is promoting SSL in a major way, so I think it's safe to say that the benefits will only increase. A few of us were talking to one of the Google Engineering team that worked on the SSL algo change at SMX in Sydney and he made it clear this is the direction they're taking.

Indexing HTTPS by default is perhaps yet another sign.

Hey Chris, when you say "There are a lot of potential issues switching well established non-SSL sites to SSL" this gets me a little nervous as I was planning to launch our new website on https - what do you see as the biggest issues ?

 

[chris]

Hey Chris, when you say "There are a lot of potential issues switching well established non-SSL sites to SSL" this gets me a little nervous as I was planning to launch our new website on https - what do you see as the biggest issues ?

For an established site, it's worth taking extra care.

The biggest issues are redirects and canonicalisation, you just need to make sure you do thorough testing.

Here's a great post, specifically the section on "SEO checklist to preserve your rankings":

https://moz.com/blog/seo-tips-https-ssl

SEO checklist to preserve your rankings

• Make sure every element of your website uses HTTPS, including widgets, java script, CSS files, images and your content delivery network.
• Use 301 redirects to point all HTTP URLs to HTTPS. This is a no-brainer to most SEOs, but you'd be surprised how often a 302 (temporary) redirect finds its way to the homepage by accident
• Make sure all canonical tags point to the HTTPS version of the URL.
• Use relative URLs whenever possible.
• Rewrite hard-coded internal links (as many as is possible) to point to HTTPS. This is superior to pointing to the HTTP version and relying on 301 redirects.
• Register the HTTPS version in both Google and Bing Webmaster Tools.
• Use the Fetch and Render function in Webmaster Tools to ensure Google can properly crawl and render your site.
• Update your sitemaps to reflect the new URLs. Submit the new sitemaps to Webmaster Tools. Leave your old (HTTP) sitemaps in place for 30 days so search engines can crawl and "process" your 301 redirects.
• Update your robots.txt file. Add your new sitemaps to the file. Make sure your robots.txt doesn't block any important pages.
• If necessary, update your analytics tracking code. Most modern Google Analytics tracking snippets already handle HTTPS, but older code may need a second look.
• Implement HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS). This response header tells user agents to only access HTTPS pages even when directed to an HTTP page. This eliminates redirects, speeds up response time, and provides extra security.
• If you have a disavow file, be sure to transfer over any disavowed URLs into a duplicate file in your new Webmaster Tools profile.

 

[Shane]

I've switched three of my existing websites over to https during the last couple of years.

The change doesn't appear to have had any impact on my rankings, but it's difficult to judge with everything else going on affecting rankings.

I more or less followed the MOZ tips posted above and had no issues.

 

[James]

I talked with Gary Illes from Google Search quality about a year ago at a conference and he advised me to move all sites onto https even if you run a memes website. The ranking boost will be small though its 1/200 singnals.
We moved a few sites over need to do more, always ensure you use 301s on the move and not 302s.

 

[Cooper Mills DomainLawyer]

Thanks for the tips guys, I think I had better do some reading on this. I am keen to move to https because we have a contact form on our new website, so I would like to give visitors some assurance that their personal data is not viewable in plain text across the internet!

 

[atom]

Yes, great info, thanks all. Certainly for new sites, it seems like the default should now be SSL.

 

[Shane]

Yes, great info, thanks all. Certainly for new sites, it seems like the default should now be SSL.

I would say so. If I was to launch a new site, and it was one that I expected to do well, I'd go SSL from the outset.