HTTPS and SEO

11.21.2014 | in Technology | by Nick Ross

More than ever before, the users of the internet have rallied together to demand an increase in security protocols and the anonymity of their browsing habits. Security and privacy have been thrust into the spotlight and linger there, as tech and software giants scramble to accommodate a new, irate category of privacy-centric users who are already legion. Services like DuckDuckGo (anonymous search) and Ghostery (list of who's tracking you on a site by site basis) are already tapping into that market.

There are pros and cons to this shift in priorities for both users and websites/service providers. On the one hand, the emerging prevalence of secure websites employing HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) over HTTP mean that more of your everyday engagements with the world wide web are secure, safe, and reliable. That may sound like a bold claim, but a better understanding of the differences between HTTP and HTTPS may add some clarity.

Simply put, HTTP manages the communication of your data by responding to different web queries/requests, while adhering to a set of defined rules. Additionally, HTTPS ensures the security of your data by encrypting it and confirming that the recipient is indeed who they claim to be (so to speak). So on the other hand, though HTTPS offers essential security assurances for pages with required login credentials, detailed sign-up forms, or eCommerce functionality, it’s not without its complications, particularly when discussing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or in other words, a search engine’s ability to catalogue and rank your website.

This occurs for a handful of reasons, but the bulk of the difficulty comes from indexing two pages that are seemingly identical. This is the result of websites housing pages with both HTTP and HTTPS, based on whether or not any given page requires the additional layer of security, as HTTPS comes at the cost of speed and additional data being processed by the server.

There are standard ways to deal with this, such as keeping HTTPS pages walled into submission or payment pages, keeping high quality, valuable content you want indexed on HTTP pages, and to avoid linking to HTTPS pages with standard links. Though these only touch on some solutions, they do illustrate that the way isn’t as clear as simply converting the entire web to HTTPS, despite the benefits.

Google is gradually inching closer to revising their rankings to accommodate HTTPS, calling for ‘HTTPS everywhere on the web’ but giving those pages a pretty measly score until they can run additional tests on their algorithms. Until the technology has matured its presence in these algorithms, the best SEO practice may be to consider which of your pages require a secure line of communication between the server, and to implement HTTPS with joyful caution. Without discretion, you could potentially wind up hurting your SEO in exchange for additional insurance on pages that simply may not require it.

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