Previously, it was a standard practice to use secure pages on site logins. Recently however, Google has planned to reward websites with secure, encrypted HTTPS connections by providing a boost in their search rankings.
This news of Google’s new ranking policy – using SSL certificated to provide a jump in Google’s search ranking has left Twitter abuzz with reactions. Mixed reactions have flown in from all parts of the industry (including the hosting industry).
Google has made this change in its ranking policy to promote improvement in online security and to encourage developers to implement SSL to encrypt the traffic on their websites. Google opines, making web connections secure could be the best defense against cyber-attacks and security breaches, thus offering much needed privacy benefits to the website users.
Google webmaster trends analysts believe whether your website is secure by default or not, will only make a very lightweight signal for now i.e. it will have a very small effect on the website’s ranking. But with time, as webmasters have had ample time to upgrade, websites secure by default will surely see a greater impact in their rankings.
Only a small effect in overall ranking algorithm will be seen, yet security organizations have welcomed Google’s new decision. They believe it is an effective push towards the most desired web security objective of HTTPS by default on every website. Search marketers however, have shown some intense reactions on Twitter. Let’s head down to read some of the most interesting tweets:
Do SEO need to be worried?
When Google has embarked on a paradigm shift, do SEO experts need be concerned of switching from HTTP to HTTPS? Frankly, not so much. Google has been vocal in getting it across to SEO experts and webmasters that it is safe to do so, but with proper steps to ensure traffic on your website doesn’t suffer.