What is HTTPS?
The S in the HTTPS stands for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), it is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.
In this post, we would like to take a moment and list of the benefits and reasons why your existing site should migrate over to HTTPS, or why your next project should use it from the start. Because HTTPS is not an optional fancy feature anymore, it is a necessity and something that we think that each website owner owes to provide to their users.
Performance
There are performance benefits with HTTP/2. Every site that we migrate to HTTPS has seen speed improvements. Is it because they are running over HTTP/2? Yes, of course, it is. Because of a better use of multiplexing, parallelism, HPACK compression, ALPN extension, server push. So these days it all makes up for that TLS overhead.
SEO
Google among other search-engines has admitted that the use of HTTPS is a ranking factor while indexing a website (ranking factor for sites running over HTTPS). There are still people debating how much the usage of HTTPS is “worth”, but at VOLO we think that any advantages that we can provide our customers are worth to use.
Security
The obvious and most important one, better security. Why would anyone like to pass their login information for their blog or website in plain text? Any information no matter where it is sent should always be encrypted, whether it is a username, passwords or your customer’s credit card information.
Build Trust
By using HTTPS you are building trust towards your users, possibly even help your conversion rates. I know I will never put any information into a site if it doesn’t have that green padlock at the top. According to a GlobalSign survey, 84% of online-shoppers abandon a purchase if data was sent over an unsecured connection.
Legal reasons
What most people don’t know, or think about is that there are certain legal obligations when handling customer information, or any kind of personal data.
Browser Warnings
In July 2018 Google will start to label sites as “non secure”. The address bar is now mid-grey colored (it’s not yellow yet), but it still draws attention and pointing fingers to use HTTPS.
Precise Referral Data
HTTPS to HTTP referrer data is blocked in Google Analytics among a few other Analytic-networks, this results in lots of referral-data usually end up in the black hole of “direct traffic.” But when someone is going from HTTPS to HTTPS the referrer is still registered.
Summarize
Improving your website with HTTPS will mean increased sales, conversions and a higher level of confidence from your visitors when compared to competitors without it. When running a website, you should be doing everything you can possibly do to reinforce your trustworthiness and show your visitors that you care about their security and privacy. Reach out to us for advice how to optimize your web presence today.