What is https and why is it important?

It has been talked about for months (if not years): sites must use the https protocol to ensure secure data transmission. In this article, we explain what https is and why it is important for sites to comply with this secure protocol.

With a post from Chrome Security Product Manager Emily Schechter last February, Google announced that as of July, sites still in HTTP will be listed as "unsafe" on the new version of Chrome.

As you can see from the images, both Chrome and other browsers already give a warning that is not as evident as it will be with the new version of Chrome.

Making the user perceive a site as safe, by transmitting trust , is already a good motivation to switch a site from http and https, but it is not the only one. Let's see the other reasons together, starting from the base: what are http, https, ssl and tls.

What are HTTP and HTTPS?

Http and https are protocols, or a set of rules, through which hypertext pages (of sites, blogs, portals, social networks ...) are transferred to the World Wide Web.

If you look at the bar where you enter the website address, you can understand which protocol uses the site you are browsing by looking at the wording before the site name.

All the most common browsers that we use to navigate between web pages (Chrome, Mozilla, Intern Explorer, Safari ...) use these two protocols. But what is the difference between http and https?

The communications with https are encrypted unlike those passed with the http which are transmitted in the clear and therefore are easily intercepted and readable .

To adopt the https protocol and pass information securely, a site must be equipped with a certificate (SSL or TLS), which guarantees the encrypted transmission of the data entered by the user. Thanks to this certificate the data transmissions (for example the name and surname that we insert in the contact forms or the credit card data when we pay online) that take place between the site and the server are in a 'reserved' channel and not accessible to third.

Why is it important to adopt the HTTPS protocol?

Probably if you have read this far you have already understood what are the reasons for adopting the http, but let's see them all:

1- Ensure the security of the information transmitted

With the https protocol that guarantees the encryption of information, you assure your users that their data, which you acquire through your site, is transmitted securely.

Of course, the more sensitive the data and information you collect  , the more important the certificate becomes to ensure safe navigation for your users.

2-Transmitting trust and reliability

We said that soon Google Chrome will report http sites as unsafe, a message that is not exactly positive for a user who is browsing your site! An unreliable site hardly converts . On an unreliable site people will be unwilling to leave their data or make a purchase.

3- Https as a ranking factor

Google itself has confirmed that https is a ranking factor: for the same factors, a site in https will be positioned first in the search results compared to a site in http.

How to make the passage of a site to HTTPS?

A correct migration from http to https requires: the purchase of the certificate, the modification of the url, the redirects of the pages from http to https, the control of all internal resources (images, attachments…), the updating of the internal links, updating of analytics and search console properties, references on social networks ... 

In short, a series of technical operations to be done carefully in order not to compromise the site and the Search engine positioning acquired over time.