How much does using SSL (https://) improve your Google Ranking?

Steve B 12 years ago

I'm curious . . .

How is anyone ever going to know exactly what has improved their Google ranking since Google isn't sharing that kind of information?

If your site rank goes up or down, how will you be able to say with any authority it is because of this or that? My understanding is that there are quite a number of things Google looks at . . . so how can you isolate one variable and attribute ranking change to that one thing?

My point is, why worry about those things you can't control? Do the basic SEO onsite that you can but don't let Google control your business. In fact, you would be smart to move away from bowing down to Google whenever they sneeze.

Steve
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cheesemaster

12 years ago

Yeah, you´re right SteveB. Was just wondering if someone here had noticed something like that. For instance, let´s one recently implemented SSL for... lets say... a site that hadn´t SSL in the past and seen this change have an effect on their rank. Just being curious if this would be a thing nowadays. Maybe coming next year, let´s see.

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Wolfster

12 years ago

If you have an ecommerce site, SSL is worth having.

But as far as rank effect (and this may change as time goes by), it's my understanding that right now it is extremely minimal.

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PaidAllDay

12 years ago

I think it will cause you more problems than it's worth. Unless you have a justifiable reason for using SSL such as e-commerce or other sensitive data it's not necessary. In the article you link this says this ranking signal effects less than 1% of the queries. It also says that these queries already had results with SSL at the top. So the queries that this applies to already had sites w/ SSL that were prominent (ecommerce and banking come to mind).

It was a fun thing for SEOs to write about but in practicality we have no evidence.

Thanks
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Rembo

12 years ago

My best guess (no proof) is that the ssl will gradually become more important. It already weighs in but probably not that much. Yet.

From the point of view of Google I can understand their shift towards ssl (https).

A signed certificate at least verifies the website owner and given the fact that one has to pay for a certificate it shows 'some' intention that the website builder is serious about their website.

Generally speaking I can imagine Google giving more love to websites that cost more to maintain (like dedicated server / own IP address / faster connection / ssl) because on average it simply demonstrates that the owner is serious about it.

That is not to say more expensive websites have better content. Content ranking is done by its own set or rules in the ranking algorithm.

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TurnKey Internet

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Rembo

Generally speaking I can imagine Google giving more love to websites that cost more to maintain (like dedicated server / own IP address / faster connection / ssl) because on average it simply demonstrates that the owner is serious about it.
.

We have seen exactly this for clients in our datacenter - and more specifically to the OP, so far SSL is just 'new' into google's mix, but that implies they want to see quality investment in time (possibly money/hosting too) to get yourself an IP, an SSL certificate, proper hosting that responds quick etc. We have seen results very positive on all fronts with this mix, but the SSL being new adds some google legitimacy to the concept of having your web sites split across IP's, servers, datacenters etc.

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swopnet

12 years ago

My understanding is that browsers visiting sites with free and low-priced SSL certificates give a scary warning.

I've read that you have to pay hundreds of dollars per year to get a cert signed by a trusted party, so your visitors won't get the scary warning.

Any truth to this?

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shahid83 12 years ago

The cost is for singing only. If a certificate is signed by a signing authority, the browsers will not give warning message. No matter if the price is low or high.
An unsigned SSL certificate will show the scary message every time until the visitor marks it as safe. And an unsigned certificate can be added free.
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TurnKey Internet

12 years ago

Originally Posted by swopnet

My understanding is that browsers visiting sites with free and low-priced SSL certificates give a scary warning.

I've read that you have to pay hundreds of dollars per year to get a cert signed by a trusted party, so your visitors won't get the scary warning.

Any truth to this?

SSL's provided by any modern provider (the free ones are usually trial 30 day ones btw, to up sell you to a pay annual SSL) are all going to work just fine, no scary warnings.

Its when an SSL expires (they last usually 1 year from purchase, or 2 to 3 years in some cases if you pay extra) they give a scary warning.

Google isn't woried about who signed your ssl, they are giving increase ranking validity to people encrypting traffic using SSL, thus showing you are more than just someone throwing up worthless web content with 1000 other domains on a shared hosting server.

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swopnet

12 years ago

When I google ssl scary warning I see several pages which describe the scary warning. It's a box with an icon of a traffic cop and these words in large text:

This Connection is Untrusted

The explanation is that the SSL cert if "self-signed," not signed by an authority that has verified certain information about the site owner.

The site is probably safe, but most folks surfing the web would not know that and would refuse to go any further.

Can you get a SSL certificate, issued by a trusted authority so it does not give the scary warning, for an economical price? Where?

Thanks
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Rembo 12 years ago

Originally Posted by swopnet

Can you get a SSL certificate, issued by a trusted authority so it does not give the scary warning, for an economical price? Where?

Simple question with a somewhat complicated answer.

There are different types of certificates which can be issued with a different scope.

These two variables can be broken down as follows:

Type of certificates:
Domain validated / Organisation validated / Extended validation.

Different scopes:
Standard (single domain) / Multi Domain / Wildcard (includes subdomains)

Obviously the more your website is validated the more the certificate will cost. Likewise, the bigger the scope the more costly the certificate will be.

If you grab a domain validation or organisation validation certificate, your visitors will see a blue address bar that shows the name of the issuing organisation (not your own company name).

If you grab the extended validation (EV) certificate it will show a green address bar that shows your own company name. This is used by banks, commercial organisations etc. The green color means your company complies with strict regulations and is safe to do business with.
I believe these certificates can not be issued in a 'wildcard' form.

Got a shopping cart on your website? You probably want an EV certificate.
Price for a single domain is probably around $150/year for the cheapest one.

If you just want to offer ssl on your blog website then you can suffice with organisation validation or domain validation. I'd personally recommend getting an organisation validated certificate because then the certificate includes your company details. (your brand).
Obviously you will want your visitors to get that warm fuzzy safe feeling if they see your brand.

Price for a single domain is probably around $25/year for the cheapest one.

It pays off big time to do a little searching to find an affordable certificate. Google is your friend. I know Comodo sells fairly cheap certificates but as I said, spend some time searching and comparing certificate vendors.

Hope that helps.
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VinceGray

12 years ago

The cheapest trusted certificate is issued by StartSSL (StartSSL) and it is completely free, yet trusted by all browsers so you won't get any "scary warnings"!

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swopnet

12 years ago

Originally Posted by VinceGray

The cheapest trusted certificate is issued by StartSSL (StartSSL) and it is completely free, yet trusted by all browsers so you won't get any "scary warnings"!

Unfortunately, according to Wikipedia (at least until someone edits the entry), the free cert from StartSSL is for non-commercial sites only.

In 2013 a person posted a lengthy complaint about his dealings with Start. The title sounds a bit over the top (Avoid Start.com StartSSL Like the Plague), but (to me) it reads like a true retelling of events.

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BenJackson 12 years ago

I switched a site to SSL everywhere about 2 months ago. There has been no noticeable impact on search traffic.
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LABEShops

12 years ago

If you want to submit your products to their product feeds, they no longer accept sites that do not have SSL at least for checkout pages (they don't seem to require your full site to be SSL, but I have stores that have SSL for checkout and some that don't and lately my ones that don't are being disapproved.

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How much does using SSL (https://) improve your Google Ranking?

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