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Google Sets Deadline for HTTPS and Warns Site Owners to Upgrade Soon

Google has announced that July 2018 will be the deadline when Chrome will begin warning users if a site is insecure or secure.

Over 50 percent of people utilise Google Chrome as their web browser worldwide, meaning this change may have a significant impact on web publishers.

A prominent warning within the browser from Chrome could affect how secure users feel when visiting you website and may cause some to leave, which will negatively impacting a sites bounce rate, advertising impressions and sales.

A warning will be shown in Chrome’s address bar, indicating that a “http” website is “Not secure.” This warning will show for all http websites.

Google’s aim is to warn users of insecure sites, with the intent pushing more web publishers into upgrading to secure HTTPS.

“Chrome’s new interface will help users understand that all HTTP sites are not secure, and continue to move the web towards a secure HTTPS web by default.”

It is clear that all web publishers should at least consider upgrading to HTTPS. The warnings may cause site visitors to begin negatively reacting to warnings on sites that have not upgraded – rhis is no longer a consideration limited to e-commerce sites.

Google’s Lighthouse Developer Recommendations page recommends Let’s Encrypt as a low cost alternative – this is something here at DOWO Digital that we offer for free on all of our hosting plans too, so the cost for upgrading should no longer be an excuse for waiting.

Perhaps the most valid reason for waiting are technical issues.

Among the considerations for upgrading to HTTPS are the mixed content issues, where a secure webpage links to a webpage asset such as JavaScript or CSS using an insecure URL. These are issues that a site publisher needs to consider against possibly losing traffic and revenue.

For those who have been sitting on the fence, there is now a date set, July 2018.

The warnings may cause site visitors to begin negatively reacting to warnings on sites that have not upgraded, which may affect advertising impressions, lead generation, sales and so on.

If you want to discuss migrating your site to https://, or how we can help set you up with a SSL certificate, then contact us today to learn more.