Now Is The Time to Update To HTTPS Secure
Up until now, Google Chrome has given non secure domains a somewhat fair chance to compete by displaying warning that the website was non-secure to only a small % of users. But, this is going to change in July of 2018, when Google is implementing an update (July 2018) in Chrome version 68 that will explicitly warn all users if they travel into a domain that is not HTTPS secure. Since Chrome dominates the browser market with over 60% of the market share, unsecured domains could see a massive drop in overall traffic and rankings in July 2018.
For those of you with websites that are lacking a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, your organic traffic numbers could be obliterated when Chrome updates to version 68. Don’t wait any longer to update your site to HTTPS secure and protect yourself from the potential losses that unsecured sites may suffer later in the year. Google Chrome may eventually implement their more aggressive plan of warning users which involved a bright red triangle and text in the URL:
Importance of HTTPS Secure
The numerous benefits of having an HTTPS secure website span well beyond data security and can have a major influence on your ability to rank on mobile. Some of the benefits include:
- Users are no longer warned that your website is unsafe for browsing when you upgrade to secure.
- Secure websites tend to rank better on Google.
- Secure encryption allows potentially sensitive information to be better protected as it is sent to and from your website, leaving a much smaller chance that data will be easily stolen from your domain.
- Having a secure website will give your visitors more confidence that their data is not going to be stolen, and can result in higher numbers of traffic, higher conversions, and more overall revenue for your business.
- HTTPS security allows your website to take advantage of Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP. With the rise in mobile use over the last few years, AMP is an important feature that allows your website to load almost instantly on mobile browsers and your site will rank higher in mobile search because of it.
Having a secure domain is not only ethical for the protection of you an your visitors’ data, but also gives your website access to critical technology upgrades that will help it perform better in the long run. The time to slap a SSL certificate on your site was months ago, but make sure you take advantage of HTTPS before the visibility of your website is damaged forever with the Chrome version 68 update (July 2018).
HTTP is Doomed in 2018
There are various reasons why so many of us have jumped on the HTTPS bandwagon, but the benefits are clear, and the end of HTTP is nearing in July, 2018.
In the last couple of years, a majority of web developers have switched their websites over to HTTPS secure. The data from Google Security Blog shows that:
- Close to 70% of websites seen on Chrome for both Android and Windows users are now secure.
- Close to 80% of websites seen on Chrome for both Chrome OS and iOS are now secure.
- Over 80% of the 100 most visited sites on the web now use HTTPS by default.
Professional Help with HTTPS Migration
According to Google, switching to HTTPS is more simple and affordable than ever before. But, if you still fear the difficulty of migrating your domain over to secure, then get help from experienced SEO professionals. Migrate your sites successfully to HTTPS and continue to grow your organic search traffic through SEO.
