In the last couple of weeks Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox Browsers have released a new feature on their browsers that warn of insecure content if a website has a password, credit card or other personal identify form and the SSL certificate is not active. Here are two warnings from our website, the first when the page does not load through https and the second when it does.
And the same secure
Late last year we sent an email updating you on the Google expectation that all websites should be secured with a security certificate and the value of doing so for Google Search Engine Rankings. All of our ecommerce websites are secured with SSL certificates and we automatically renew these for you every year to maintain the best security for both yourself and your customers. Traditionally we did not force the site to always be secure, instead opting to use the https only when the customer purchased an item. However this would not always solve the security warning in new browsers and for existing sites that did not have an always on security certificate we updated your site so that logins, mailing list subscription forms used the SSL certificate. Moving forward however, we will be adding some code that forces all traffic on your ecommerce website to use the https to prevent security warnings.
What does this mean?
In January we made sure all of our customers links to logins etc were all pointing to the https version of the page. However we have not as yet forced the sites to only use https until you have time to update your AdWords campaigns. We have updated all the base domain names in our platform so they always point to https already which means google will already have been indexing your site securely.
What do I need to do?
If you use AdWords or other advertising platforms you should update the links to your site to always use https. Google AdWords may give you an error on your campaigns if you do not update the links. You should also update your Google Analytics account to say your default settings are https: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1010249?hl=en You should also create a new Google Console account https://www.google.com/webmasters/ and re-validate the website and then add a new sitemap.
Will the old links continue to work?
Yes the old links will continue to work and they will redirect using the Google recommended strategy called a 301 redirect. The actual link itself will not change at all, the only difference will be that the link will go from http to https and will show a green or other type of padlock for your customers.
Will this have an affect on my current search engine rankings
It should not adversely affect your SEO rankings however you may see a boost in rankings as Google prefers sites that are https
When will this happen?
We have already done all the initial work to change your base URL in our platform to https, and we have update the links to the logins etc. We will not be forcing the move to full https until the end of next month to give you enough time to update your Google AdWords campaigns.
What if I am unsure of what to do?
If you need assistance or want to ask us any questions you can call us on 1300 730 560 or email us at support @ enflexion .com .au (without the spaces).
