Published September 12, 2014
Recently, Google announced that websites using “HTTPS” in their domain name would see a boost in their search results rankings. Our Philadelphia web design company was not only surprised to hear that Google shared such a detail, but we were also surprised to find out how many administrators were planning on changing their website to HTTPS (nearly 25%, according to Moz) in the near future.
These days, there are both advantages and disadvantages to using HTTPS for your website…
When your website has an HTTPS encryption, it will encrypt all URLs, which comes in handy when you’re sharing your credit card number or other personal information. It also makes your website more secure by preventing third-party manipulations and repeatedly verifying the server.
Since HTTP is a more universal encryption, there are some browsers (mainly older versions) that can’t or won’t comply with HTTPS. Also, having HTTPS could make your website slower, since the encryption requires more communication between servers.
If you’re hosting an HTTPS website on a shared network, you’ll have to take special measures to make sure that the IP addresses you’re connecting to are secure. While HTTPS encrypts sensitive information, that information is decrypted once it reaches the recipient address. Therefore, it’s better to have an HTTPS website on a private IP address.
When a person goes from an HTTP site to another HTTP site, their browsing history is documented and you’re able to see how they got to your website. With HTTPS, however, history isn’t documented and the path taken to get there is lost. This can be a problem when it comes to SEO and keyword research, since you don’t know what words the person used to find you.
If the website in question is one that deals with online transactions, an HTTPS encryption gives your customers a sense of security and trustworthiness. They may be more inclined to purchase your products or services online if your website is protected.
Overall, there are both advantages and disadvantages to changing your website to HTTPS. If your website is currently using HTTPS, we’d love to hear what you think about it! Let us know in the comments!
