How Does The Google HTTPS Ranking Factor Work?

Friday, 15 August 2014

How Does The Google HTTPS Ranking Factor Work?

A few days ago,Google announced that sites secured with HTTPS and SSL will now get a boost in search ranking factor,but Google's announcement made it official.Which makes it a good time to make the switch to HTTPS and get ahead of your competition before the playing field levels up again.But before you head off to take a look at your site's security,let's take a look how the ranking factor actually works.

What we know about this ranking signal?

A common question people as is,how the ranking signal related to Google's Algorithm such as Panda and Penguin.Well,the fact is,it isn't! The HTTPS ranking signal is standalone signal and is independent from any other ranking or algorithm.

Unlike Penguin or Panda algorithms,this is a ranking signal that runs in real time.URLs get an immediate,tiny ranking boosts as soon as Google indexes them.

Is it Domain Level or Page Level ?

So far,it seems to be URL specific.Websites might have various sections,some running on HTTP while others running on HTTPS.So only the HTTPS pages will see a small ranking boost,and not the other pages on the same sight.

What about New Websites ?

Google's News index differs from the normal Google Web Index.But migrating news sites to HTTPS should have no issue.If you run a news website,i.e. a site that is included in Google News Section,just go through the normal migration process and Google News will pick up on the change automatically.

Some Problems With HTTPS Migration :-

Google recommends that if you do a migration,use the change of the address tool within Google Webmaster Tools.But you cannot - the change of address tool does not support HTTPS migration yet,and there is no indication of when it will be supported.If you are doing the migration,a 301 redirect is enough of a signal to communicate a change,even without using the change of address tool.

Another problem people are reporting is that,since the HTTPS ranking signal launch,Google has been sending out security certificate errors via Google Webmaster Tools.However,we haven't see such problems,yet.

Have you switched to HTTPS yet ? We will soon create a tutorial explaining how can bloggers migrate their sites from HTTP to HTTPS.

Please Stay tuned with us and drop a line of your experience in the comments.Happy Blogging :)