Website owners are always looking for the best security measures to keep their content protected in the digital age. Cyber threats are constantly on the rise with hackers finding new exploitations to gain access to private information available on websites. This makes it vital to ensure a secure connection between a user’s browser and web server for ultimate protection.
Especially in the world of SEO, HTTPS is very important for boosting a website's security while growing your business legitimately through the most effective digital marketing technique. HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, and it ensures that a website’s connection is secure, which can then help SEO practices become more successful. Unlike HTTP, which transmits data in plain text, HTTPS encrypts data using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security). This keeps personal information protected.
This guide will explore the true impact of HTTPS on SEO and why it’s essential in keeping business websites safe so that they can grow naturally. Continue reading to find out more about how you can improve your SEO campaigns after implementing HTTPS to your website.
Why HTTPS matters for SEO
While it’s predominantly recognised as a security feature, HTTPS can also be a ranking signal for Google and other search engines. HTTPS has been preferred over HTTP by Google since 2014 and has given websites with this security a boost when it comes to ranking top on the search engine results pages (SERPs). This is to drive forward the notion of keeping the web safer for users to navigate and improve their experience.
The main features of HTTPS include:
Encryption: difficult for unauthorized parties to decipher codes
Port 443: distinguishes it from HTTP traffic
Data Integrity: reduces the risk of middleman attacks or data tampering
Authentication: ensures you’re communicating with the right website
HTTPS can affect SEO factors, such as site speed, user experience, and credibility. If a website loads faster, it can improve analytics as dwell time and bounce rate will both be improved which are both significant ranking factors. The fact that HTTPS helps with preventing malicious attacks from cyber criminals, as well as phishing and data breach attempts, makes the user experience is better as they don’t need to worry about private information being stolen.
Showing users that you care about keeping your website safe and secure can be a huge selling point, as it makes you more trustworthy. This will keep users returning to your website, as they know they will be protected. The more users you have returning to your page, the better the chances are of ranking highly.
A digital marketing agency in Dubai would be very persistent about HTTPS inclusion for SEO benefits, as they aim to provide better protection to users within that area.
Best HTTPS SEO Practices
Following some of the best practices will help you to optimise your HTTPS website and reap the SEO benefits from doing so. You first need to select a secure and reliable hosting provider. This must have HTTPS support, fast servers, backup servers, and SSL certificates, which are digital files that establish a secure connection between a web browser and a web server.
After this, you should utilise a CDN (Content Delivery Network) as this will improve the speed of your website while simultaneously handling high traffic volumes. The security of your website will also be improved with a CDN, as you have a better chance of reducing DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. Bandwidth costs can also be reduced on top of this.
Implementing HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) will also enhance your security and website speed, which is great for SEO. You will need to add a header to the server’s response or add your site to the HSTS preload list.
You then need to monitor your website’s performance on a regular basis to ensure that everything is running correctly. Using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google PageSpeed is great for monitoring how well your website performs, as you can track things such as load time, bounce rate, and conversions. You can also compare your HTTPS website to your HTTP to see what improvements have been made.
Final Thoughts
Using HTTPS has now become essential for website owners who want to grow their business through SEO strategies. While it used to be optional, it is now highly recommended to switch to it as soon as possible. The main benefit of HTTPS is that it keeps your website data secure and helps build trust with users. This can help significantly with Google rankings, as user experience and data tracking is improved.
Additionally, the incorporation of HTTPS can be a great strategy for making your website more visible which will boost how many new users you get. If you haven't yet made the transition to HTTPS, now is the time to do so to ensure that you stay ahead in the competitive SEO market.
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