In October, Google made a change to their web browser, Google Chrome. This change is affecting all websites that do not have SSL accessed over HTTPS.
What the Heck is SSL and HTTPS
It has to do with security. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. That’s the kind of security banks use. HTTPS and HTTP are two different kinds of pages that you can have on a web browser. HTTPS is secure. HTTP is not secure.
In order to get your website on all secure pages, HTTPS, you need to have an SSL security certificate for your server and you need to have a developer make sure all of your pages and links are changed to HTTPS.
What If I Don’t Do It?
Google has decided that any website that has a form on it (most websites have contact forms at least) should be sending that information securely. In order to do that, it needs to have pages shown securely, with HTTPS. If they are not using HTTPS, there will be a warning on the browser.
What’s That Look Like?
What Does That Mean to Me and My Website?
For most companies, it’s not a disaster if you don’t have it addressed, but here are some things to consider:
- Having visitors to your site see “not secure” is not a great thing to have.
- Google values having your website being secure. Not having a secure website has a negative impact on your SEO rankings.
- Google is giving the impression that this is very important to them and the expectation is that there will be additional measures that they will take at some time in the future.
Is Google Really saying this?
Have a look at the original post by Google if you want.
What do I do about it?
You web developer should be able to address this without a huge expense. You may need to purchase an SSL certificate for the server you are hosting your website on.
If you’d like to make sure your website is secure, contact The Story today to have HTTPS enabled on your website.
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