Google Update: Will your Website Pass the Test?

Google introduced a new ranking signal this month, which will affect where your website is ranked on the Google search results.

Previously, there were over 200 known and unknown factors that affected your Google rank, so it is big news that Google has declared this new factor as an actual ranking signal.

What is the new ranking signal?

The new signal for Google is the security level of your website.

On top of the other 200 factors, Google will now assess the security level of your website when deciding on your rank. They will do this by looking to see if your website uses SSL encryption, and if it does, the URL should start off HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. The standard website just uses HTTP, so the SSL adds a level of security on top of that.

Basically, they want all websites to use a HTTPS connection as it has an extra level of security than plain old HTTP.

If HTTPS is more secure and therefore safer, why doesn’t every website have it?

Not every website has HTTPS for a number of reasons:

1. Money. It costs extra to boost your website to HTTPS because you have to purchase a certificate, and renew it each year.
2. Historical Use of HTTPS. Before the year 2000, HTTPS was mainly used for online payment transactions or for protecting sensitive information in major companies, so it was seen as a corporate level of security. It was only after 2000 that it started being more widely used to keep a variety of other things secure like identity, communications, emails and general web browsing. The internet evolved and with more and more people sharing information, it just became more of a priority to use HTTPS to protect that information.

 

Why is Google making it a requirement now?

It’s only a requirement if you want to rank higher on Google, but Google have drawn attention to it now because they called for HTTPS Everywhere a few months ago.

During their talk on HTTPS Everywhere, they claim that every website should now use a secure connection, simply because we send so much information out onto the internet that it compromises our privacy if websites are not secure.

In this way, they are promoting HTTPS to boost the overall security of the internet for everyone. And HTTPS should be the standard way of doing things, but sometimes we all need a push!

Take a look at their video below for more of an insight into why websites should use HTTPS.

How do I tell if my website uses a HTTPS connection?

1. One way of checking is to look at your URL. If it starts off with HTTP://, then it is just a standard connection.
   However, if it starts off with HTTPS://, then you are using a secure HTTPS connection.
2. Alternatively, you could look for the lock icon on your web browser. This lock icon isn’t just an image; it will display the website’s security information if you click on it, to prove they are secure.
3. And finally, you might see an SSL Certificate Vendor logo on the website itself. A number of authorities make these certificates, such as Verisign, SSL, or GeoTrust, so any of their logos would indicate a website is secure.
   One way of verifying that it is an official seal is by clicking on it or hovering your mouse over it. The logo should display information about the website you are currently on.

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Currently, the HTTPS signal is not vitally important to your ranking, but Google has said they may make it more important soon. With this in mind, we would advise you make sure you have a HTTPS connection sooner rather than later.

If you have any questions or concerns about this latest Google update, please get in touch with us at the Vital Hike office by filling out an enquiry form, or dropping us an email.

HTTPS is the way forward,

With Vital Hike

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