Why We Recommend Securing Your Site With HTTPS

website security

Why We Recommend Securing Your Entire Site With HTTPS

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS is an acronym for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. Put simply, HTTPS is a method of securely communicating information between a user’s browser and a web server.

For over 20 years, Dynamics Online has applied HTTPS to client websites only on pages featuring forms asking for credit card or other sensitive information. However, search engines and web browsers are pushing for a more secure web. Many browsers display notifications related to website security, which makes it important to now secure all web pages.

Example of a browser notifications:

HTTP and HTTPS browser symbols

Why HTTPS is Important

Online security is becoming less of a perk and more of a necessity. Check the news.

When a site is not secure, all session communications between the web server and a browser can be intercepted. This opens the door for a number of malicious activities, including session hijacking or HTTP header injection (when malicious ads or redirects are injected into the site).

Google Chrome warns users if a page requesting a login or personal info is not secure. This makes the site look unprofessional and reduces trust.

What Are the Benefits?

Browsers are beginning to display more obvious warnings when a site is not secure. Migrating to HTTPS will not only increase data exchange security, but also trust from search engines and site visitors.

HTTPS is a ranking signal in Google’s search algorithm, which can factor into your website’s online rankings and SEO campaigns. While this is not currently a big ranking factor, it could be an easy tiebreaker. Google also prioritizes the indexing of HTTPS pages.

Who Needs to Migrate to HTTPS?

All websites should be HTTPS.

In the past, medical practices, ecommerce stores, and all other websites could get by with minimal encryption. Today, it is important that the entire website is secured. Keep in mind that a website could suffer from a number of other vulnerabilities unrelated to HTTPS. This form of security focuses on protecting individual user session communications, and not all exploits.

The potential downside of implementing HTTPS is that site speed could decline. This was a bigger issue in the past when not all technologies were up to par, and is the reason Dynamics Online only implemented HTTPS on key web pages. To date, our clients have not experienced a noticeable decrease in site speed after a complete migration to HTTPS.

Implementation Process

Implementing HTTPS typically requires a number of steps, including:

  • Obtaining the SSL certificate
  • Installation of the SSL on the server
  • Server-side 301 redirects
  • Testing and troubleshooting
  • Updating the property, sitemap and disavow file in Google Search Console if applicable

The process can be time consuming because we need to find and convert every single HTTP resource. WordPress and static HTML sites previously designed by Dynamics Online require 1-3 hours for HTTPS implementation. The benefits of increased session privacy and rankings are worth the cost.

In an effort to capitalize on the benefits of HTTPS, Dynamics Online offers SSL certificates to clients that utilize our hosting, at no additional fee. Contact us now discuss or learn more.

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