Question

Is https a ranking factor? How do you achieve proper HTTPS?  

Answer 1

This is a million-pageview-website. It's not mobile-friendly, and it's only been recently (few months) redirected to https. No significant improvement, but grows steadily. Dominates search.  

Comments

No, not really )

---

But still, my point is that mobile-friendliness and https aren't important. But they are ranking factors.  

---

I think people look at it too generally. You always have to look at the competition you're up against, and do it better with the guidelines Google's given you. That's it. Sometimes it's enough to have an http, non-mobile friendly site. Other times it's not.  

---

Definitely. But you know how people like to over-panic over Google statements. When in fact all you need to do is make sure you have a popular relevant website (page that matches query).  

---

In Romanian literature - there are hundreds of websites. All mobile friendly, all HTTPS. The content is exactly the same. Doh. So. Yeah - SSL is not important for an informational website.  

Answer 2

I believe it’s required

Comments

Only if you're collecting information from your visitors, right?  

Answer 3

It's important if visitors send sensitive pieces of information via contact forms. Otherwise, it's insignificant and unimportant at the moment, as long as browsers don't show ugly insecure notices.  

Comments

@earnest ah, I thought I heard Mueller saying it is a ranking factor? I stand to be corrected.  

---

It may be a ranking factor, but it probably carries less than 1% weight in the algorithm. That is - for informational websites, where you don't collect data from visitors.  

Answer 4

I can only speak of personal experience and to me it helps - for ranking plus when you get a site that pops up not secure on chrome thats no bueno

Answer 5

Might not be required, but there are now free SSL providers like Let's Encrypt. I would add it just because it will make users feel more secure since Google Chrome will show "Not secure". Might not be a ranking factor but a trust factor.  

Comments

Even that website now recommends SSL lol I remember when they where strong against it. or maybe that was other site

Answer 6

It is a ranking factor, but not a massive be all and end all. However, it is a customer journey factor. If the customer doesnt feel secure it will slow them down or stop them. Why wouldn't you do it anyway, its relatively cheap or free in some cases.  

Answer 7

Is this a real questions? lol

Answer 8

No but google might list sites under the ones that don’t have it!  

Answer 9

- Is https a ranking factor? Yes - How do you achieve proper HTTPS? By using a TLS certificate and making sure all pages and assets you load on a page are also using TLS. For any new site made simply use it from the start Browser vendors are pushing sites towards using it by displaying 'insecure' notices for non TLS pages. It used to simply be about commerce and preventing MITM attacks but now it's also about privacy, i. e. not letting your ISP know which sites you've visited. Google and the likes would prefer to hoard that data for themselves rather than others having it. Just use letsencrypt for any new sites you make and plan to make time for any existing sites that aren't using it yet.  

Answer 10

Its a ranking factor, thru bounce rate - insecure website message = high bounce rate, high bounce rate = not good for ranking. Also as a brand you appear as not trustworthy or outdated IMHO.  

Answer 11

The question should be not is it a ranking factor, but how much of a ranking factor