What is HTTPS and SSL/TLS?
HTTPS is the secure version of the HTTP protocol, using an SSL/TLS certificate to encrypt data. It's a Google ranking factor.
Why is HTTPS mandatory?
- ●Google ranking factor since 2014
- ●User trust: The green padlock in the address bar
- ●Security: Protects personal data and transactions
- ●Browsers: Chrome displays "Not Secure" for HTTP sites
How to get it?
- ●Free certificates via Let's Encrypt
- ●Included with most modern hosting providers
- ●Premium certificates for e-commerce (EV SSL)
SEO Impact
HTTPS is a confirmed Google ranking factor. A site without HTTPS will lose positions and user trust.
Related Terms
What is a Robots.txt File?
The robots.txt file tells search engines which pages of your site they can or cannot crawl.
What is a Meta Description?
The meta description is a short HTML summary that appears below the title in Google search results.
What is the Title Tag?
The title tag is the most important HTML element for SEO. It's the blue clickable title in Google.
What is a Canonical Tag?
The canonical tag tells Google which is the preferred version of a page when duplicate content exists.
What is Hreflang?
Hreflang is an HTML attribute that tells Google the language and region a page targets for multilingual sites.
What is X-Default Hreflang?
X-default is a special hreflang value that designates the default page for users whose language isn't specifically targeted.