Why Use Https: The benefits of HTTPS
What is HTTPS?
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) was the most prevalent encryption protocol for providing security over Internet connections before it was preceded by TLS (Transport Layer Security) in 1999. Despite the neglect of the SSL protocol and the adoption of TLS in place, people still refer to this type of The technology is called “SSL”.
SSL provides a secure channel between two or more devices running over the Internet or an internal network. One common example is when SSL is used to secure an Internet connection that converts a website address from HTTP to HTTPS, where the letter “S” stands for “secure”.
Why Use Https: The benefits of HTTPS
We recommend that all websites be protected by some form of SSL, even those that are not related to e-commerce, transactions or user data capture due to a number of other important benefits including;
HTTPS Benefits
Protection
One of the main benefits of HTTPS is that it adds security and trust. It protects users from man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks that can be launched from compromised or unsecured networks. Hackers can use these methods to steal your customer’s sensitive information.
An SSL implementation secures any data sent between the server and the browser during a users session interacting with your site. This is a key component in the areas of data protection and in particular the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation relating to the protection of personal data.
Trust
A green padlock that appears on a secure site can give customers peace of mind that your website can be trusted and that their information is safe, and this can lead to increased conversion and loyalty.
SEO / value search
If your domain has the https character in front of the www, your site will have more obvious benefits than those stuck with the old http. This fact comes directly from Google. In 2015, Gary Illyes revealed that if two web pages are similar in some respects, Google will always prefer Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Evidence from Mozcast confirms this. Between January and October of last year, the number of websites appearing at the top of Google’s search rankings that complied with https increased from 25% to 40%.
The reason why Google’s algorithm increasingly prefers https is because the company wants to prioritize secure websites. In fact, Google has been clear about its intent to ensure that one day the entire network will be secure, including websites that do not handle sensitive information. The Google Chrome 56 update released in January 2017 is another step towards that goal. Since the release of this update, Chrome users have started receiving security alerts every time they access a site that is provided by http rather than https. Over the next few months, Google’s preferences for https may significantly restrict http sites.
Mobile technology
There is another important advantage of switching to HTTPS. No serious modern company can condone mobile technology. Ensuring that your site is mobile-friendly by taking into account factors such as page loading speed is just as critical to success in the modern market as using the latest SEO strategies.
Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is becoming an increasingly important part of optimizing your domain for smartphones. Google created AMP to help speed up load times on mobile devices, and AMP content tends to appear more prominent in search results, but only works for sites served by https. This is also increasingly the case for the new generation of browsers and progressive web applications, which are designed with https in mind and will not be effective with http.
You have to switch
It’s possible that at some point site owners will have little choice but to switch to HTTPS, and going up the curve by switching now may give your site a huge advantage.