HTTPS: Backlinks (HTTP links and indexing of website in google)

Server Config
1

Hello,

I have two questions about upgrading to secure HTTPS from HTTP

  1. will I lose link juice from people that are linking to me? If they link to http then surely they are not passing link juice to the https site?

  2. will google need to reindex my website? And my ranking will start from scratch (without a 301 redirect)?

Thanks,

2

You just need to create a 301 redirect from http to https and everything will be fine. :sunglasses:

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3

is that 301 done in HTACCESS or Mod ReWrite?

4

It doesn’t matter how you do the rewrite so long as it’s there, it could be done in htaccess.

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5

with the 301 redirect from http to https will the link juice from all backlinks still be there 100%?

6

See post #2.

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7

Will Google need to re-index all pages of my website? So my ranking will suffer in the short-term?

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9

Google will update its index gradually, as it crawls your site. There should be very little disruption to search result or traffic if you have the 301 redirects in place.

See https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6033049 for more information.

10

Do you know whether HTTPS should only be used when the website involves some sort of transaction?

For example if the site was an informational website about collecting coins with no transactions: No need for SSL
If the site is an online shop for buying a car: SSL needed
etc.?

Obviously the Google Ranking Boost would be beneficial but should ALL sites use SSL or only sites involving things that need it?

11

Any site can use HTTPS, it’s not a problem for a static, non-commercial site to have it.
But only those with transactions or transfer of sensitive data really need it.
It is discussed in more detail here:-

12

Really, it’s up to you to decide whether you think it’s worth it for sites where you’re not collecting any kind of customer information, whether card transactions or e-mail addresses for a newsletter.

If you want to know what Google says, then I suggest you search their webmaster help.

https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

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