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HTTPS Ranking Signal – Google’s New Favourite

HTTPS Ranking

In the middle of 2014, Google announced on its Webmaster Central Blog that the search engine giant is going to welcome HTTPS, or Hypertext Transport Protocol Secure, as a ranking signal in its algorithms family.

So, if you have been thinking how by adding a SSL 2048-bit key certificate on your site, you will be able to achieve a minor ranking boost, here is what you need to know about this algorithm!

What is HTTPS?

Designed to protect both – a website and its users – by encrypting all communications between a user’s browser and the website, the HTTPS is actually the secure version of HTTP. So, if your website users are a bit apprehensive to shop online on your virtual store, or share information related to their confidential, personal details, then you may want to add HTTPS to your website to gain the credibility factor that your existing website might be missing all this while.

Security is of paramount importance, says Google

Time and again Google has informed all of us about the priority that security holds for it, and with this algorithm, it has testified the importance it gives to users’ security and confidentiality. Google stated that, “Beyond our own stuff, we’re also working to make the internet safer more broadly. A big part of that is making sure that websites people access from Google are secure.”
So, if you wish to get rid of security issues when it comes to your website’s usability, then opting for HTTPS is a must for you!

Real time, per-URL basis

Different from Google’s Penguin and Panda update, whenever Google will index a new HTTPS URL it will immediately see a slight boost. Also, in case your website is partially HTTPS and partially HTTP, then those URLs which are HTTPS will be given a boost, and those which are HTTP will not see any improvement.

Losing visibility while migrating to HTTPS

If losing visibility is a concern for you, then you surely need a good migration plan in action. Take care of robots.txt exclusion and deal with the non-HTTPS URLs correctly to avert the odds of losing visibility while switching to HTTPS.

Minor change, but still significant

Even though the search engine has said that this algorithm will bring only a small ranking benefit, it still holds a lot of significance as Google ‘may decide to strengthen’ it later. Therefore, befriend the protocol if you wish to escape any penalty in future.

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