Over the past couple of years, I’ve talked a few times about how “Google hates your Website”. Those columns all had to do with Google’s search engine and how they rank the pages that display as the result of a search.
But now, Google may not trust your Website, either. In late July this year, Google released version 68 of their Chrome Internet browser, and it came with a pretty significant security update. Version 68 and subsequent versions of Chrome will now display a warning on all non-HTTPS Websites. If you use Chrome 68 or later, when you visit an HTTP site, you will see the warning “Not secure” to the left of the URL address of the site. If YOUR Website still uses http://, visitors to YOUR Website will see “Not secure” next to your address.
Why does that matter?
First, it might help to review the difference between HTTP and HTTPS. HTTP, which stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, is the way that data is sent between a browser (like Chrome, or Firefox) and the Website being visited. The communication in HTTP is not encrypted, so it’s not secure. “Secure” is the “S” in HTTPS. Websites that use HTTPS encrypt communication between the browser and Website. So, it’s easy to understand why Google, and really anyone concerned with security, would want Websites to be HTTPS.
Users want HTTPS, for sure. Surveys indicate that over half of all users will leave a “not secure” Website immediately, without looking at content. Since Chrome is used on about 2/3 of all computers, and over half will leave a “not secure” site, an HTTP site may be losing 1/3 of its visitors, or more. That will only get worse for HTTP sites, as Google is promising that in the future they’ll make the “not secure” message more noticeable and presumably, scarier.
In Google search results, whether anyone uses Chrome or not, Google is already giving preferred ranking to HTTPS sites. So, HTTP sites are being punished in search results. Google is the dominant search engine with about 2/3 of all search. So, the net of all that is that HTTP sites will be harder to find through search -- and Chrome will scare you away from them if you do find them. The visibility and the effectiveness of your Website will wither.
Fortunately, most Websites can be secured without really changing the Website itself. That’s done with the purchase and installation of an SSL security certificate. There are many types of SSL certificates, prices that are all over the map, and installation can be technically challenging. So, if YOUR Website is HTTP today, and you’d like to secure it, contact us and we can help you navigate from “not secure” to Google trusting your Website.
