Checking the HTTPS protocol
A protocol defines how a computer will communicate with a server. Traditionally, the HTTP protocol was used but it’s not secure (the traffic circulating on the web is on free-access). The standard now is to use the secure equivalent HTTPS.
Make sure that the website’s homepage is hosted in "HTTPS" and that the browser indicates that the connection is secure with the correct parameters (green padlock with "Secure" on Google Chrome). Also check that the certificate is valid by clicking on the padlock:
If this is not the case, the website's SSL certificate must be set up or updated.
Check that URLs starting with "HTTP" instead of "HTTPS" redirect to the corresponding "HTTPS" URL. This should be a 301 redirect, not a 302 redirect.
If the URLs in "HTTP" open the page without 404 or redirection, it means that the website’s pages are duplicated -> in that case, it’s absolutely necessary to implement the 301 redirects as soon as possible.
Then, we have to modify the internal links to remove the links pointing to the URLs in HTTP, and change them to those in HTTPS. Why? To make internal linking more fluid, and ensure that the robot crawls efficiently with the fewest redirects possible.
Presence of HTTP URLs within the website’s linking
We recommend that you use a crawler to identify if there are linked HTTP URLs on the website. This is what we do during an audit.
If the crawler finds URLs in HTTP, modify the links pointing to these pages, in order to point to the pages in HTTPS.
Summary of the steps for setting up the HTTPS protocol
Choose a quality SSL / TLS security certificate.
Redirect all the URLs on the website, from the HTTP version to the HTTPS version.
Update all of the internal links, don’t hesitate to ask a SmartKeyword staff member to send you a list. It’s normally already included as part of a technical audit.
Refresh the Google Search Console, if it's a URL prefix property and not a domain property.
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