Step by step guide to setting up https

Content:

• Configuring the https protocol for "chainks"
• Preparatory stage for the transition to https protocol
• The main stage of setting up the protocol https
• Site settings step after switching to https protocol

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Configuring the https protocol for "chainks"

According to official statements by Google representatives, from the beginning of 2017, sites operating under the http protocol will be marked in the Chrome browser as unsafe.

It is clear that this will leave its mark on the promotion of websites in search engines, since the use (or not use) of a secure protocol https since mid-2014, it has been one of the factors in ranking search results.

This is especially important for those sites that are in any way related to financial transactions, as well as the processing of other personal data of the client (telephone, e-mail, name), since from the point of view of Google they can become the target of an attack by hackers hunting for confidential data of their visitors (including payment).

Therefore, in order not to fall under the artificial demotion of positions for non-compliance with the requirements of the search engine, it is necessary to configure the https protocol now.

Preparatory stage for the transition to https protocol

1. Replace all absolute links within the internal skid for relative ones. This item is preferably executed before you start using the https protocol to avoid unexpected technical problems with the availability of website elements and its reindexing by search engines after the transition.
   
   
    
2. Correct media content attachments. If the content is on third-party sites, then you should change in such URLs http on https only if the final web resource is available on this protocol. But if media files are located within the website, then their addresses must be converted to relative ones by analogy with regular internal links.
    
3. Check and, if necessary, correct the settings for connecting external scripts. If the scripts use absolute links, they also need to make appropriate changes and prescribe relative paths.
   

 
These three stages are preliminary preparation and are basically the most costly (in terms of time resources) item of expenditure when moving to the https protocol.

The main stage of setting up the protocol https

1. Select and purchase an SSL certificate. You will have to choose, taking into account your needs and capabilities, among these types of certificates:
   
   a) Ordinary. Used for one domain. Fiz fit. and jur. persons. Issued in just a few minutes. It only requires checking the domain ownership of the person who requests the SSL certificate.
   
   b) Extended Validation (EV). In this category there are certificates with an expanded audit: in addition to confirming the rights to access the domain, the certificate of state registration of the organization, the presence of the organization name in the Whois data, verification calls are made, etc.
   When purchasing a certificate of this type, it becomes possible to obtain green markup in the form of a “brand” with the name of the company in the address bar, which for most Internet users is a symbol of the reliability of the website.
   
   c) Wildcard certificates. Used for pallets.
   
   d) Certificates supporting IDN. Used for sites with domain on Cyrillic.
    
2. Set the SSL certificate on the server. In most cases, this procedure is performed through the control panel provided by the hoster and takes only a few minutes.
   
   
   
   If you cannot independently execute it, technical support comes with help. Another option is to seek the help of a specialist in programming.
   
   By the way, before setting the https protocol, you should ask the hoster if he supports this feature. Most large hosting service companies have long supported SLL certificates, but some still continue to “fall the back.”.
   Therefore, it may be necessary to transfer the site to the server of a more modern hoster.
    
3. Check website availability. Make sure that access to a successful site with the https protocol is available for both options: both from http and from https at the beginning of the address. Now, by default, when you enter the site URL from http into the address bar, automatic redirection to the secure https protocol should occur.

If the site is unavailable for one of the options or is not redirected, then the configuration is not done correctly or there are problems from the hoster. In any case, you need to look for the reason for this and eliminate it as soon as possible.

Site settings step after switching to https protocol

1. Customize 301 redirect. In order not to spend time entering the appropriate commands into the code of each page of the site, you should take the opportunity to prescribe the 301 redirect in the file .htaccess using the mod_rewrite module or request technical support from the hoster.
   
    
2. Find and eliminate errors. In the process of switching the site to https, the protocol cannot be tracked down by all the nuances. Therefore, upon completion of this process, you should make sure that all pages of the website are available, links to them work correctly, media attachments are displayed correctly and are in place.
    
3. Notify search engines about the transition to https protocol. This step is necessary in order to protect your website from the loss of traffic from search engines.
   Using Google Search Console, you need to add and specify as the main mirror a new version of the site with the https protocol.
   
   

 
In Yandex.Webmaster, in the indexing settings section, there is a function “Site Moving”, using which you need to specify the domain and check the “Add HTTPS” checkmark.

 
That's all. It remains only to wait for the reindexing of the site after switching to the https protocol. After that, the URL of its pages with https will begin to be displayed in searchable prints.

At this stage, there are possible surges in the number of pages loaded into the search engine index and the positions they occupy. But if all of the above recommendations were implemented correctly, pretty soon everything should return to the original indicators (with permissible losses in 2 - 3 %).

We hope that after reading this material, the transition to https protocol will cease to seem extremely difficult to you.

Also take note that it is better to immediately create new websites using it, because this is a new standard that sooner or later everyone will have to get used to.