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When we demand a web page from a server, our browsers connect us through a path, called “protocol.” These protocols have two kinds, HTTP and HTTPS.
HTTP is the older protocol so the majority of the sites all over the world are using that. On the other hand, HTTPS (SSL Certificate) is much safer and could revolutionize SEO albeit it is almost novice.
In the following, we are going to know more about these protocols.
Differences Between HTTP and HTTPS
HTTP stands for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol” and as mentioned, it is the path through a webpage or hypertext. The “S” at the end of HTTPS is representing security so we could simply introduce the HTTPS as the assured version of HTTP.
Let’s get more familiar with the HTTP’s mechanism to figure out actual differences precisely.
HTTP protocol works through port number 80 of each server based on TCP/IP which is known as a safe procedure. Although, it has an Achilles Heel that is the “Plain Text” nature of data. It means if anybody could hack into the middle of the transmit process, he/she actually gets access to the real data.
So if you’re going to enter a site that is using HTTP protocol, everything including your password and username could easily expose only if a hacker could find a teeny tiny bug to get into the transferring process.
It may seem a petty issue to weblogs or ordinary business websites, but it also could be a catastrophic disaster when it comes to bank accounts and serious stuff like that.
Just imagine you transfer some money to someone and a hacker watching, now, that fellow has full access either to your bank account and your personal information. Furthermore, when one account exposes, the whole information on that site could hack in the same way.
To solve the problem, the HTTPS protocol is introduced. It uses port number 443 of each server based on TCP/IP. With this technique even if somebody bug in, there is nothing to see but some unclear codes thanks to SSL/TLS.
For instance, if you use “example” as the username and “12345” as the password, a hacker would see a nonsense thing like “127e6fbfe24a750e72930c220a8e138275656” which is quite impossible to decode.
How does HTTPS and SSL affect SEO?
Based on the statistics, 32.2 percent of one million top ranks Alexa’s websites, have used HTTPS protocol until April 2018. It also announced that 57.1 percent of more than one hundred and thirty thousand popular sites have launched on HTTPS over the globe.
And finally, Firefox released that seventy percent of new sites are employing HTTPS.
It is noteworthy that in 2014, Google officially announced that HTTPS is a factor in ranking websites because of the increasing both security and user experience. Most of the browsers are promoting HTTPS as well.
For instance, Google Chrome currently use not “not secure” sign to denounce websites that do not employ HTTPS protocol.
All in all, we could firmly say that the web world is heading to the HTTPS era and in a seeable future, using HTTPS is not only a choice but would be an absolute necessity.
How to move website to HTTPS?
In the past years using HTTPS was a complex job because of technical and financial difficulties. Although it is much easier nowadays and everyone with general knowledge about servers could move a WordPress website to HTTPS protocol.
HTTPS generally uses an SSL Certificate to code the data. To get this certificate you should pay an annual fee just like you pay for domains.
SSL has various types like “Extended Validation SSL Certificate” or “Domain Validation SSL Certificate.” These all have different fees and diverse options.
Some of them could display the company’s name in the green address bar, support several domains and Wildcard. You could easily go to a hosting company and buy what you need.
Of course, there is a free method as well! If you get lucky and your hosting company provides Let’s Encrypt service, you could simply employ SSL and move your website to HTTPS, bingo!
To fix WordPress HTTP error view our other article.