SEO Fundamentals

HTTPS & Security

HTTPS has been a Google ranking factor since 2014. An unsecured site is penalized in search results and displays a warning to visitors.

Why is HTTPS mandatory?

HTTP (Not Secure)
  • • Data in plain text (interceptable)
  • • "Not Secure" warning
  • • Penalized by Google
  • • Loss of visitor trust
HTTPS (Secure)
  • • Encrypted data
  • • Padlock in address bar
  • • Confirmed SEO boost
  • • Enhanced trust
https://www.your-site.com - Secure connection

Security Elements

1. Valid SSL Certificate

The SSL certificate encrypts communications. Today, free certificates (Let's Encrypt) are available from most web hosts.

Let's Encrypt (Free) Cloudflare (Free) Paid SSL (EV)

2. HSTS Header

HSTS forces the browser to always use HTTPS, even if the user types "http://".

Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains

3. HTTP to HTTPS Redirect

All HTTP requests should be automatically redirected (301) to HTTPS.

http://site.com → 301 → https://site.com

4. XSS and Clickjacking Protection

Additional security headers protect against common attacks.

X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block

Our audit automatically checks

Valid SSL certificate
HTTP to HTTPS redirect
HSTS header configured
Security headers
Test my site's security