Google has been slowly rolling out changes to its search algorithm as well as the Google Chrome Browser that favor encrypted websites. This month, they’ll roll out a major change with Chrome 56: a “Not Secure” label to any non encrypted website. This label will be to the left of the website’s URL.
This most recent change will eventually lead to non-encrypted websites having a red triangle warning symbol along with the label “Not Secure” to the left of the URL.
How to tell if your website is encrypted? Websites with encryption have https:// instead of http:// in the beginning of their URL. Generally speaking, if users browse your website with http:// then your website is not using an SSL Certificate, which encrypts the website.
How do you encrypt your website? Encrypting your website is not a major undertaking but should be done by an experienced website developer. The SSL has to be installed onto the server where your website is hosted. Redirects then need to be put in place to redirect the old http:// urls to the new https:// ones. The last step in the process is letting the major search engines know that your website has been moved.
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