SEO: Does HTTPS Have a Positive or Negative Impact on Search Rankings?

HTTPS taken into account by Google

Google announced that HTTPS is a criterion that is positively taken into account in the ranking of its search engine results.

John Mueller (Google's SEO spokesperson) also explained in a video how Google incorporates HTTPS into its algorithm.

It is taken into account in real time by the search engine and assessed page by page. In other words, you can benefit from the SEO boost on one page independently of another. However, it is strongly recommended to switch your entire website to SSL.

His colleague Gary Illyes (Trends Analyst at Google) confirmed that an SEO ranking advantage was gradually being implemented and that they were even considering indicating secure websites in search results by adding a coloured badge.

The introduction of this factor into the algorithm of the world's leading traffic source as early as 2014 was intended to give webmasters time to switch to SSL/TLS and encrypt their data exchanges. Until then, HTTPS had carried only moderate weight in ranking calculations.

In 2017, the time has come!

At the beginning of the year, many SEO experts observed that HTTPS did indeed have a real impact on Google rankings.

• Brian Dean (a renowned SEO expert across the Atlantic and founder of BackLinko) analysed more than one million Google results to identify the ranking criteria. He concluded that there was a strong correlation between HTTPS and results appearing on the first page.
• MOZ (a global leader in SEO) determined in its annual study of key ranking factors that HTTPS had become “a decisive factor.”
• In France, Olivier Andrieu (the pope of French SEO and author of the bestseller “Réussir son référencement Web”) stated at the beginning of the year in a video that, as early as November 2016, he had observed that websites which had migrated to HTTPS had improved their ranking in Google results.

Added to this is the trust visitors will place in an HTTPS website over an HTTP website. Indeed, the development teams behind browsers such as Chrome and Firefox announced that they had added warning messages (such as “not secure”) for websites that remained on HTTP in their new versions. These messages are increasingly discouraging (red colour coding and notifications) and may therefore drive users away.
➔ To learn more, read our article “Chrome and HTTPS: The New Warning Messages”

Watch out for the competition

Every day, more and more businesses are becoming aware of the importance of their online presence and their positioning in search engine results. They are implementing advanced content creation and link-building strategies to improve or maintain their rankings.

Security, embodied by installing an SSL certificate to encrypt data exchanges, has now become a competitive advantage. In other words, websites that are slow to switch to HTTPS will see their rankings deteriorate in the medium term.

Can you preserve your SEO when migrating to HTTPS?

As we have seen, switching to HTTPS has undeniable benefits. However, migrating an existing website from HTTP to HTTPS is not without risks for SEO—at least, not if you fail to take the necessary steps to preserve it...

From an SEO perspective, switching to HTTPS is equivalent to changing your domain name. You might say: “Yes, but I'm not changing my address; I'm simply adding HTTPS in front of it?!” Unfortunately, it is not that simple: most web tools and services will not recognise your address. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the services affected:

• First and foremost, search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Qwant, Ecosia...
• Webmaster tools: Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics...
• Social media counters: number of likes, tweets, shares...
• Backlinks, partner websites, or media outlets linking to your website.

Rest assured, this is not irreversible: solutions exist to preserve your hard-earned SEO equity. It requires significant but achievable preparation work. It consists of:

• Identifying all links pointing to content
• Listing all hard-coded internal website links
• Checking the integration of external modules (widgets, JS scripts, AdWords modules, etc.)
• Setting up 301 redirects for all links at server level
• Updating internal links and external modules
• Creating or updating webmaster tools (Analytics, Search Console…)
• Requesting backlink updates wherever possible (partners, social media, etc.)

Conclusion

While it is clear today that HTTPS is essential for any website that wants to maintain its rankings and reassure its visitors, migrating an existing website should not be taken lightly, at the risk of seeing traffic from search engines plummet.

At BlueSecure, we have developed a methodology based on dozens of HTTPS migrations that enables you to use SSL technology without affecting SEO. We now offer you the benefit of our experience, providing end-to-end support for a successful migration.

 

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