The impact of HTTPS on website promotion

Sensation! The share of HTTPS sites in Google's TOP 10 has increased significantly. This is a prime example of how HTTPS affects search rankings. Let's look at why this is so important and how this change affects SEO.

A little history

At one time, Google announced that sites using the HTTPS protocol would receive a ranking bonus. This announcement was key as data security has become a critical issue for internet users. Unlike Google, Yandex at that time did not consider HTTPS a ranking factor.

However, over time, the situation changed, and the Google search engine began indexing HTTPS versions of pages by default. SEO specialists also noticed that some sites, after switching to HTTPS, lost their positions, TCI and Page Rank, but over time the indicators were restored and the site began to grow.

Official positions of Google and Yandex regarding HTTPS sites

Google

• The presence of the HTTPS protocol is considered as a full-fledged ranking factor. Statistics have shown that the share of HTTPS sites in Google's TOP 10 has increased significantly.
• Using the HTTP/2 protocol can speed up the site if it has an SSL/TLS certificate installed. Loading speed is one of the most important factors in search ranking.
• Google Chrome has started marking HTTP sites as unsafe, which increases user trust in HTTPS sites.

In addition, Google continues to increase warnings about unsafe HTTP sites for users, which also affects their trust.

Yandex

• Yandex's official position is that the presence of a signed SSL certificate is not an independent ranking factor. However, the presence of a certificate has a positive effect on the commercial Rank of the site.
• Yandex uses a secure protocol for all its product pages. According to statistics, the share of HTTPS sites in the TOP 10 of Yandex for commercial queries is growing steadily.

Although Yandex does not focus on HTTPS as a ranking factor, the trend of increasing the share of HTTPS sites in the TOP 10 is obvious.

Additional 3 reasons to switch your website to HTTPS protocol

1. The HTTPS protocol ensures security when working with the admin panel, protecting data from leaks.

2. HTTPS protects the site from embedding third-party programs and unwanted advertising. Without this, there may be a security risk, especially when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks.

3. An HTTPS site allows you to use technologies such as Service Workers to send Push Notifications. This is only available on secure sites.

It's time to switch to HTTPS

• Switching to HTTPS is an important step for any website, but it should be done carefully to avoid loss of traffic. It is best to migrate during the "low season" when the business experiences a drop in traffic.
• To correctly select a certificate and install it, it is recommended to contact an experienced specialist or SEO company to avoid problems when switching to HTTPS.

When to expect an increase in rankings after switching to HTTPS

The site’s position in search results after switching to HTTPS may not change immediately. Usually there is a slight decrease in traffic in the first month, but then the numbers level out and the site begins to grow steadily. Despite this, it is clear that HTTP sites are gradually losing their positions in the TOP 10 in both search engines. Therefore, it is recommended to install SSL certificates on all websites in the coming months.

If you have any questions, you can contact the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" for any question by email info@seo.computer.

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