SEO CONSIDERATIONS WHEN MIGRATING TO HTTPS

The right way to migrate content and mistakes to avoid….

ASL PLS?• Owner and CEO of

• Specialize in website design and outsourcing

• Some of our clients include

• Blogs about web design and technical SEO– www.sytian-productions.com

OBJECTIVES1. What is HTTPS and how it protects your website

and visitors

2. Different types of SSL certificates and cost

3. Pros and Cons of migrating to SSL

4. Steps in HTTP -> HTPPS migration

5. Case studies

6. Step by step SSL installation and nitty gritty technicalities of SSL

WHAT IS HTTPS

Protocol which provide security for your website by encrypting communications between the server and the person visiting the website.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

HTTP + SSL certificate

Hypertext Transfer Protocol + Secure Sockets Layer

HTTPS

UN: kennethPW: p@ssw0rd UN: kenneth

PW: p@ssw0rd

UN: kennethPW: p@ssw0rd

Your account balance is P 999

Your account balance is P 999

Your account balance is P 999

HTTP CONNECTION

UN: kennethPW: p@ssw0rd

A#$SD^F34fsdf345345#$@ff##$%^^@#%%$#$

UN: kennethPW: p@ssw0rd

Your account balance is P 999

Your account balance is P 999

&^%$#gDgh%43ggf%^%G$^TRgfghFGHFG$R

HTTPS CONNECTION

KINDS OF SSL

Domain Validated (DV)

Organization Validated (OV)

Extended Validation (EV)

Cost (USD) $ 20 - 150 $ 100 - 250 $ 200 – 1,000

Issuance Hours 1 – 3 Days 2 Days - Weeks

Ideal for

BlogsSmall sites

EcommerceCompany sites

BIG CompaniesBanks

DOMAIN VALIDATED (DV)ORGANIZATION VALIDATED (OV)

EXTENDED VALIDATION (EV)

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

“…encrypted connections as a signal in our search ranking algorithms.”

“…less weight than other signals such as high-quality content.”

HTTPS IS NOW A RANKING FACTOR

- Increased security

- Conveys more trust

- Increase SEO Ranking

- Addition cost

- Temp. drop in ranking

- CMS plugins might malfunction

- Decrease revenue on AdSense and other ad networks

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

STEP 1 – Pre SSL DiagnosticsA. Back up website files and databases

B. Record website’s page speed

C. Monitor keyword rankings

D. Monitor website traffic

A.) Back up website files and databases

Simply click on

Backup Wizard

Install Backup Plugin

BackupBuddy

B.) Monitor Website’s Page Speed

http://tools.pingdom.com

C.) Monitor Keyword Rankings

1.) Rank Checker - SEOBook.com

C.) Monitor Keyword Rankings

2.) Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

D.) Monitor Website Traffic

Google Analytics

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

INSTALL SSL

1. Purchase SSL from your Hosting provider - 2048 bit

2. Ask them to install them for you

3. May require Dedicated IP address

4. Sometimes SSL included in Hosting package

5. Test after SSL installation https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

3.) Update Site ResourcesFix hard coded site resources:

- Scripts, Images, CSS, etc..

Use protocol relative URL

WordPress

2.) WP plugin SSL Insecure Content Fixer

1.)

Social media buttons

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

Update Internal Links

Use protocol relative URL

FROM <a href=“http://sytian-productions.com/about/”

TO <a href=“//sytian-productions.com/about/”

WordPress

WordPress – 100’s of pages

http://sytian-productions.com/

//sytian-productions.com/

Download “Search and Replace” plugin

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

Verify SignalsA. rel=“canonical”

B. Tell Google you changed domain/URL

C. Create and upload new sitemap for HTTPS

D. Make sure robots.txt allows crawling of HTTPS pages

A.) rel=“canonical”

Prevents duplicate content issues by specifying the preferred version of a web page

Add rel=“canonical” in all pages

B.) Tell Google you changed domain/URL

Add both https://www.domain.com

and https://domain.com

C.) Upload new Sitemap for HTTPS

www.xml-sitemaps.com Upload in GWT

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

Setup 301 Redirects.htaccess - APACHE

web.config - IIS

Setup 301 Redirect

Link juice is transferred to HTTPS as well

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

Check Index Status of both HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

Post-SSL Diagnostics1. Double check all pages and all functionalities

1. Ask help from plugin developer (paid plugins)

2. Ask help from a web developer

3. Uninstall plugin and replace with a new one

2. Recheck Page Speed

a) SPDY

b) OSCP Stapling

c) HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS)

3. Monitor keyword rankings

4. Monitor website traffic

SEO Hackerhttps://seo-hacker.com/losing-tweets/

“...keyword rankings have Increased by as much as 26%”

cloudtechttps://www.cloudtec.ch/blog/web/will-switching-to-https-affect-my-seo-ranking.html

“We did not suffer a drop in traffic. It actually improved by 7%, measured over one month.”

Prosperity Mediahttp://prosperitymedia.com.au/seo-move-http-https-39-increase-organic-traffic/

“SEO Move From HTTP to HTTPS 39% increase in Organic Traffic..”

TL;DR1. SSL provides security not only for the website but

for the website visitors as well

2. Types of SSL

1. Domain Validated (DV)

2. Organization Validated (OV)

3. Extended validation (EV)

3. Cost of SSL ranges from 20 – 1000+ USD depending on type of SSL and CA provider

4. SSL (if setup correctly) will not slow down your website

HTTP -> HTTPS Migration Steps1. Pre-SSL Diagnostics

2. Install SSL

3. Update Site Resources

4. Update Internal Links

5. Verify signals

6. Setup 301 redirect

7. Check Index Status at (GWT)

8. Post-SSL Diagnostics

Revenue = AdSense

E-commerce website

New website

Have enough funds

Thank you! Keep in touch!

kenneth.sytian

@KennethSytian

kenneth.sytian

Sytian-productions.com