Moving website from HTTP to fully HTTPS and SEO implications

Question

Alright, you think that this might be one of the most asked question on the internet, and you're tired reading the exact same answers. So let's focus on one of the most common answer, and forget about the others.

One of the common answer is:

"The https-site and the http-site are two completely different sites; it’s a little bit like having a www version of the site and a non-www version. Make sure you have 301 redirects from the http URLs to the https ones." (source: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/seo-for-https-with-s-like-secure)

So here's my question:

Why are people saying that https and http are two different websites? How different is https://www.mydomain.com from http://www.mydomain.com?

The URI is the same and the content is the same. Only the protocol changes.

Why would the protocol have any impact on SEO? Whether or not the content is encrypted from point A to point B, why would that matter SEO wise?

Thanks for your help!

-H

Magdalen

Answer 1

Http and https could technically be two different sites. You could configure your server to server completely different content. They have two different urls (the difference being that s).

That being said, almost all webmasters with both http and https serve nearly identical content whether the site is secure or not. Google recognizes this and allows you to run both at the same time without having to fear duplicate content penalties.

If you are moving from one one to another, you should treat it similarly to other url changes.

• Put 301 redirects in place so that each page gets properly redirected to the same content at its new url
• Register both versions in Google Webmaster Tools

I have not personally done this switch, but it should be doable without problems. I have made other types of sitewide url changes without problems in the last couple years.

The other alternative would be to run both http and https at the same time and switch users over more gradually. As they log in, for example.

Simonesimoneau

Answer 2

Update to above answer as on August 2014, Google has just confirmed that sites secured by SSL will start getting a ranking boost. Check official statement here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.in/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

Strage

Answer 3

Don't think about it in terms of protocol. Think about it in terms of potentiality from a search engines point of view.

http://example.com and http://www.example.com can be completely different sites.

http://example.com/ and http://www.example.com/home can be completely different pages.

https://www.example.com and http://www.example.com can, again, be completely different sites.

In addition to this, https pages have a very hard time ranking. google etc.

If your entire site is https and pops an SSL certificate to an HTTP request, G views them as secure and that they're https for a reason. It's sometimes not very clever in this regard. If you have secure product or category pages, for instance, they simply will not rank compared to competitors. I have seen this time and again.

Batwing

If you update your answer with some specific references I'm sure it would gain votes. – Reena

UPDATE: Google has now said they like full HTTPS sites and that you should look to enable this. theregister.co.uk/2014/08/07/… – Batwing

Answer 4

In recent months, it is becoming very clear Google will gently force webmasters to move to HTTPS.

Why are people saying that https and http are two different websites? How different is www.mydomain.com from www.mydomain.com?

Answer: Use the site: operator to find duplicate content. Go to a browser and type:

site:http://example-domain.com

and

site:https://example-domain.com

If you see both versions indexed in Google or other search engines they are duplicates. You must redirect the HTTP version to the HTTPS version to avoid diluting your websites authority and a possible penalty from Google's Panda algorithm.

Why would the protocol have any impact on SEO?

Answer:

1. For ecommerce websites, Google will not rank them well without being secure. They do not want users to get their bank info etc stolen.
2. Google will be giving ranking boosts to sites that move to HTTPS in the future. Although it is not a large ranking signal now, it could become larger.
3. The guys at Google Chrome have submitted a proposal to dish out warnings to users for ALL websites not using HTTPS. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but check this out.

Info taken from this guide on how to move to HTTPS without killing your rank.

Underwater

Answer 5

Recently, if SSL is inactive in Firefox browser, it shows an error. You must enable SSL and redirect the URL to HTTPS 301

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