Secure your website by switching to HTTPS.

HTTPS

HTTPS stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. That is, HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP. The extra S at the end stands for “secured. You can also see this when a website has a green lock icon.

 

Secure = Secured

For example, if you are doing online transactions, it is important that the website is secure and that no one can see. HTTPS prevents hackers from reading along or retrieving private data from you. So the main function of HTTPS is to encrypt your data. In addition, they also give your browser a chance to validate that the website you are visiting is really who you think it is. So not that you’re on a bank’s website but that this website is actually run by a hacker who is out for personal information and banking data.

 

Advantages

Websites that use HTTPS exude more reliability and security. So customers prefer to be on sites they know are safe. Also, Google will show sites with HTTPS above those with HTTP. So if you have secured your website with HTTPS, it will have better search results than if you chose HTTP.

It only takes 10 steps to secure your website by switching to HTTPS.

Step 1: request an SSL certificate.
You can get this certificate for free or paid from your web host. It is also available from a third-party provider of SSL certificates.

Step 2: install the SSL certificate.
You can have this certificate installed by your web developer or at hosting support. This installation can vary tremendously from one web host or web site system to another. So there is not 1 right way to do this.

Step 3: Redirect the HTTP variant of your website to HTTPS.
You need to make sure that the HTTP version of your website is redirected to the HTTPS version. If you don’t do this, you will get 2 websites. An HTTP website and an HTTPS website. So your website may be double indexed. By redirecting, visitors to your page who type in http://website.be will automatically be redirected to https://website.be.

Step 4: Adjust internal links.
Within your website, you have several links that redirect the customer to a website. These links, in the beginning of creating your website, you will have set to http. If you want to switch to https, these links must also be changed. For example, if your website contains an image that links to an article on another site, you need to make sure that this image is secured with https. Otherwise, your website will still not get a green lock.

Step 5: adjust redirects.
If you have redirects that include your full URL, including http, then you will need to change all redirects that include http to https.

Step 6: Update your URL in Google Analystics.
If you use Google Analystics or another analytics system, this url should also start with https by default. You can do this within Google Analystics itself.

Step 7: Add a property within Google Search Console.
Google Search Console should also be aware that you have switched to https.

Step 8: Create a new XML sitemap.
How to create an XML sitemap is described in another post by Are Agency; “create an XML sitemap”.

Step 9: Update your inbound links.
You can contact the websites whose links appear on your website yourself. Thus, you can ask if they also want to switch their website from http to https. This way, there are only links on your website that are secure.

Step 10: Change your URL in external places.
Links on your social media profiles also need to be adjusted, referrals from ads, confirmation emails with URLs in…