What’s The Fuss About HTTPS? Is My Site Safe?

Have you noticed a “Not Secure” tag next to your business website URL?

And that it shows a warning like this?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

A few years ago, moving a website to HTTPS (a secure server) was optional and mainly for online retail businesses with pay gates, where higher security was required. The rest of us didn’t pay any mind.

But now… while it is still optional, those without a secure site may be losing potential customers.

As of July 1, 2018, Google made it a lot more obvious when a site hasn’t moved over to HTTPS. With an update to Google Chrome, users would see when a website isn’t on HTTPS.

Google explained this in their blog:

“For the past several years, we’ve moved toward a more secure web by strongly advocating that sites adopt HTTPS encryption. And within the last year, we’ve also helped users understand that HTTP sites are not secure by gradually marking a larger subset of HTTP pages as “not secure”. Beginning in July 2018 with the release of Chrome 68, Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure”.”

What’s the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?

The main difference is HTTPS uses a secure server, that allows your connection to a website (i.e. your browsing data within that website) to be encrypted. HTTP doesn’t.

You want to make sure you go from this:

To this:

It’s no secret the internet is prone to security threats, and has been pretty much since its inception. This move to HTTPS is Google’s attempt at making a safer, more secure browsing experience for everyone. A few other benefits of HTTPS may include:

• A possible boost in page rankings
• Faster page loads
• Better brand perception

How Do I Make The Switch To HTTPS?

Google claims switching to HTTPS is easier and cheaper than ever before. If you have a website developer, get them to take a look at Google’s instructions.