Google Chrome is the world’s most popular browser, boasting a 66% worldwide usage share of web browsers on desktop and a 50% share on mobile devices, making it the most used browser in the world, according to StatCounter, 2018.
Google keeps updating their algorithms and methodologies to best suit the user’s needs and this over the years has helped them stay on top of their game. After the big Google Speed Update, the next big step from the tech giant is the securing websites by marking non-HTTPS sites ‘insecure’. If you are looking to keep your eCommerce website secure and up in the long run, it is the right time to make the shift from HTTP to HTTPS.
What is the difference?
HTTP is the building block of the world wide web, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. After years of pushing for ‘secure by default’ websites, the tech giant – Google will now identify insecure sites in the Chrome browser beginning and mark them ‘insecure’ starting in July 2018.
Why HTTPS over HTTP?
- More Secure
- Helps with SEO Rankings
- AMP requires HTTPS
- Better referral data
- Credibility factor
- Customer information remains intact
The big shift
Google intends to mark all non-HTTPS sites ‘Non-secure’ starting July. This has been followed with a campaign by Google providing ‘Rank boosting’ incentives to sites that make the shift to HTTPS. Results of the campaign are.
- Over 68% of Chrome traffic on both Android and Windows is now protected
- Over 78% of Chrome traffic on both Chrome OS and Mac is now protected
- 81 of the top 100 sites on the web use HTTPS by default
How to migrate from HTTP to HTTPS?
- Buy an SSL certificate (An SSL certificate contains both public and private encryption keys that are long strings of alphanumeric characters used to encrypt data in a way that’s very hard to crack thus making it ideal for protecting sensitive data.)
- Install the SSL certificate on your web hosting account
- Change all instances of HTTP to HTTPS to ensure there will be no broken links once you switch the HTTP to HTTPS switch.
- Set up 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS so that search engines are notified that your site’s addresses have changed and so that anyone who has bookmarked a page on your site is automatically redirected to the HTTPS address after you flip the switch.
There you have it, 4 easy steps to making your eCommerce website secure and web-friendly.