Should I bother with HTTPS?

Domains
1

Hi from wall to wall sunshine York UK!

Having ran this test developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights though this site www.davidclick.com i get the below warning ( Page does not defaults to HTTPS ) :

439×501 21.2 KB

Now I want to do things by the book but I’d like some opinion please, should I bother?

Thanks,
David

2

If you are taking information via online forms then yes https is the way to go. Otherwise no as you don’t need to secure anything.

https is fractionally slower (although google does apply a weighting so it doesn’t affect your search ranking as it wants more secured sites).

3

Go with SSL if you can. It make site look more professional, google give better ranking for sites using SSL. I don’t see a reason not to install SSL. You can even get free SSL with letsencrypt (if you are on a vps, you can automate SSL renew every 90 days).

4

Hi Nightwing,

Are you selling anything online or taking any online Payment. Its always good have https but its not Mandatory.

5

If there is any payment involved I would say it’s a must. I would never pay online without https, nor would any savvy potential customer.
If you are not taking payment or transferring sensitive data, it’s good to have but not necessary.

3 Likes
6

Google has officially told us that sites with HTTPS (SSL) will receive a minor rank boost. Every little bit helps nowadays. :slight_smile:

Besides from this fact, users always feel more comfortable with SSL. Even if its forms or collecting their personal data. We want to know it’s being encrypted/going to a safe place.

Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-starts-giving-ranking-boost-secure-httpsssl-sites-199446

7

Yes SSL is good and it should be considered necessary if money or anything sensitive is exchanged but as far as I know, a certificate costs a bit more.

8

Interesting article from WiredTree:

https://www.wiredtree.com/blog/google-warn-users-connecting-sites-without-https/#more-2458

9

Not selling online…

10

There is no harm in getting HTTPs, in fact it may help your site to rank better. That aside, it’s crucial for customer trust - alot of web users are now familiar with it and will look for the padlock symbol in the browser whenever online. My advice would be to go with it.

11

does your hosting allow you to setup Let’s Encrypt SSL’s ?
If not send them a mail and ask how you can do that.

12

We (at SitePoint) went HTTPS on the blog a few weeks ago. Our Premium section (where we collect payment) and the forums have been HTTPS since launch. We made the move because it’s good practice in general, and Google counts it as a ranking factor, which can’t hurt.

So far search traffic has slowed down a little bit, but I can see in the Search Console that the site is still being indexed at a higher rate than usual, so I expect traffic will pick up again soon.

What’s holding you back from making the move?

1 Like
13

Any Website analytics tool analyze the website by using the comman parameters. Now it may or may not apply at your website. SSL Certificate must useful for for website if you have any confidencial data like credit card information of clients or you using payment gateway at your website, But if you don’t have anything like this in that case SSL is not required for you.

However their is no drawback of using SSL Certificate, even it can help you to get batter ranking in search engine.

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