Google's Gary Illyes: HTTPS May Break Ties Between Two Equal Search Results - Search Engine LandWe've seen positive results, so we're starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal. For now it's only a very lightweight signal — affecting fewer than 1% of global queries, and carrying less weight than other signals such as high-quality content — while we give webmasters time to switch to HTTPS. But over time, we may decide to strengthen it, because we’d like to encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.
HTTPS: just a Google ranking signal?Google’s Gary Illyes said Monday that the company’s HTTPS ranking boost may serve as a tiebreaker when the quality signals for two search results are otherwise equal.
On the other hand, some people have observed that SSL sites are dominating page 1 of Google organic SERPs:HTTPS was officially acknowledged as a ranking signal in 2014. Since then people have been discussing the strength of this signal and its contribution to the higher rankings. At some point Google agreed that it has boosted rewards for secure websites; however, a recent tweet by Gary Illyes to Pete Meyers makes it clear that Google is not going to increase the weight of this factor anymore. Also, Backlinko’s research shows very little correlation between traffic being encrypted and the page ranking higher on Google SERPs
NOT having SSL may serve as kind of a negative ranking signal, for a couple of reasons:Just over 9 months ago, I wrote that 30% of page-1 Google results in our 10,000-keyword tracking set were secure (HTTPS). As of earlier this week, that number topped 50%.
While there haven't been any big jumps recently – suggesting this change is due to steady adoption of HTTPS and not a major algorithm update – the end result of a year of small changes is dramatic. More and more Google results are secure.
I haven't personally.great information thank you. But, has anyone actually witness a boost ?
That's common. Depending on the site (and how often Google is crawling it), it can take up to 3 months to get the new URLs indexed and for the old ones to drop off, assuming you have all your 301 redirects in place correctly.My website actually dropped in rank when I added https though I did follow all the best practices. I know sometimes it takes a while to bounce back and its only a few days. But, I wonder if it will improve at all.
... I thought it was gunna happen in July 2018. September you say. Hmmm...
Emphasis added.Beginning in July 2018 with the release of Chrome 68, Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure”.
Even simpler if you have a server with WHM/cPanel: use AutoSSL which automatically installs and automatically updates domain certificates from Comodo.Get a free Let's Encrypt certificate and move forward.
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