Sorry for the overly sensational headline. It’s reflective of the general misinformed buzz that’s going around since Google announced that they were adding https (websites on secure servers) as a ranking signal.
Let’s put all the mass hysteria aside, take a deep breath and pull up our big boy pants…
HERE’S THE REAL STORY ABOUT HTTPS AND GOOGLE
It’s a ranking signal. That’s all. It’s not the ONLY ranking signal – there are hundreds if not thousands of ranking signals the Google algorithm uses to determine rankings.
As a matter of fact, Google just said
For these reasons, over the past few months we’ve been running tests taking into account whether sites use secure, encrypted connections as a signal in our search ranking algorithms. We’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.
In case you missed my BOLD and RED highlighting – Google says that it’s a very lightweight signal. That’s it.
In case you also missed what they suggest you concentrate on – it’s high-quality content.
So, make sure you have a properly built site, with proper SEO tools built into it and get back to doing what you do best – writing high quality content.
BONUS: If you do switch to a secure server something to keep in mind – EVERYTHING on your website has to also come from a secure server. If it doesn’t, your readers will get warning notices in their browser. Want to learn more? I call it Poisoning The Well.
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
- The Ultimate Guide to Writing the Perfect Blog Post - March 14, 2023
- 8 Questions Your Web Developer Should Have Asked - April 27, 2021
- Slack, Chat or Discord? - April 6, 2021