Google SEO HTTPS Migration Checklist

Despite most not seeing many changes after migrating from HTTP to HTTPS for the Google HTTPS ranking boost, still webmasters want to do it.

If you are going to do it, you need to do it right. So here is a check list based on WebmasterWorld forums, the original Google blog post and my experience migrating over a few sites.

• Get the valid security certificate
• Install it using SHA-2 and make sure it is configured properly
• Do the HTTP migration on a test server to test first
• Set up HTTP to HTTPS 301 redirects and test
• Update all external plugins to ensure they are HTTPS compliant (commenting, widgets, twitter, facebook, youtube, all those embeds - trust me you won't find them all)
• Update all your ad code to support HTTPS
• Ensure your analytics will work on the new HTTPS URLs
• Update social sharing counts (use code that counts both HTTP and HTTPS counts or uses one or the other based on a cut over date)
• Update your internal site search to support HTTPS and discover new URLs sooner
• Submit new HTTPS XML sitemaps
• Review the Google site move article
• Verify the new HTTPS site with Google Webmaster Tools and track indexation, crawling, search queries, etc.
• Test your site using the Qualys Lab tool
• Read every article I wrote about it over here to know what to expect

I am pretty sure that covers 95% of it. If I left something add, use the comments below.

I did ask Google to build a report in Google Webmaster Tools for HTTPS content mismatch errors to help webmasters.

Article Source:http://goo.gl/Eibewz

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Going HTTPS/SSL Will Now Give You A Ranking Benefit In Google

Google announced early this morning that they are now using SSL/HTTPS as a ranking signal in their Google search algorithm.

The signal is incredibly weak and webmasters should not go crazy about it, but it is indeed a signal now. Google said they are "starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal." Google did add it is "only a very lightweight signal" and that it only had an impact on "fewer than 1% of global queries." Google equated the SSL ranking signal with the Panda signal and said it carries "less weight." Google did say they may "decide to strengthen" the HTTPS ranking signal "over time" to "give webmasters time to switch to HTTPS."

In March, Google's Matt Cutts said he'd like for HTTPS to be a ranking signal and I guess, even though he is on leave, he got his wish. Matt did decide to tweet about it even while on leave:

I Have SSL Already, Do I Need To Do Anything?

I am seeing this question a lot, from e-commerce sites that have SSL on their checkout forms. The answer is, yes, you need to still do something. This ranking boost is applied to only the pages that have SSL on them. Typically, SSL is only on those checkout pages and not on your product pages, content pages, etc. So you need to make your whole domain name, all the URLs, all the files, all the includes, all of it, go over HTTPS. So yes, you need to do something.

This obviously will take some time, you need to test and then test, to make sure the HTTPS certificate doesn't show errors to your users. There can be images, videos, and third-party includes that need to be adapted on the pages to ensure that it doesn't give the user a security warning.

Is There A Negative Side To Going SSL

Google has told us time and time again, that if you switch your site over properly, there is no downside. Google has said before there was an SSL boost there there is no ranking change in a negative way for going SSL. Even back in 2012, Matt Cutts encouraged users to go SSL with their sites. Google even improved Google Webmaster Tools to support HTTPS vs HTTP reporting.

But the key is you need to do it right. Google gave this advice:

• Decide the kind of certificate you need: single, multi-domain, or wildcard certificate
• Use 2048-bit key certificates
• Use relative URLs for resources that reside on the same secure domain
• Use protocol relative URLs for all other domains
• Check out our Site move article for more guidelines on how to change your website’s address
• Don’t block your HTTPS site from crawling using robots.txt
• Allow indexing of your pages by search engines where possible. Avoid the noindex robots meta tag.

Google also recommends you use Qualys Lab tool to test your SSL certificates and pages.

Let's not forget the HTTPS everywhere video presentation, watch that.

My only concern right now is with sites included in Google News. Google News has your URLs plugged in so I think it is more than just a 301 that will communicate the change to Google News.

Google said they will get back to me on that question, but once we hear back, we know Google News can index and rank HTTPS content.

Webmaster/SEO Reaction:

So what is the reaction of the SEO and webmaster community to this news? Personally, I think there is little downside to going SSL, but it does take time and testing to do right. SSL certificates are really not that expensive, of course there are expensive ones, but you can buy cheap ones that work the same.

We have forum threads at WebmasterWorld, Hacker News, Google+, Google Webmaster Help and Twitter. I even asked people what they felt, if there was a negative side to this, on Twitter, I'll include a screen shot of those responses below.

Read More:http://goo.gl/I195yp

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Google: Refreshing Penguin Is Not So Simple

It seems like Google Penguin has been on some sort of vacation, since it has now been over 10 months since the last refresh.

The sad part is, those who have spent the past 10 months trying to "fix" their sites, are in a penalty box just waiting. They are suffering, many businesses cannot sustain paying payroll with such a hit, and small mom and pop shop are closing up shop.

So why can't Google refresh the algorithm to let those who paid their dues and made the fixes necessary come back in Google's good graces?

Josh Bachynski, the one who questioned Matt Cutts on ethics asked Google's John Mueller that question 40 minutes and 44 seconds into the Google Webmaster Hangout on Google+ this past Monday.

John responded that Penguin can't be a simple refresh, it needs a "complete data refresh" and that it is not just a basic "tweak." It needs a "complete rerun" of the algorithm and that is something they do not simply do "randomly." John added that this specific algorithm is taking longer because they want to "make sure it is the right type of data" and they do it right. To do it right, they need to test it and tweak it and then run the update with new data completely.

Google is working on it but 10 months later, is a long long time for many webmasters.

Here is the video:

Source:http://goo.gl/nfyyJI

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Google: The Effects Of Duplicate Content In Search

Duplicate content in the SEO space has been an important topic for as long as I've been in the industry. I've covered it here countless times.

Today, I wanted to share how Google's John Mueller says what "effects you'd see with content duplication within a website are."

John says there are two main issues with duplicate content:

(1) Google's algorithms will choose one URL to show for the content in search. Maybe it won't choose the URL you'd choose. If you have a preference, make it known (through redirects, rel=canonical, internal links, etc).

(2) Depending on the amount of duplication (is each piece of content hosted 2x, 20x or 200x?), it can happen that the process of crawling is too much for the server, or that new/updated content isn't picked up as quickly as it otherwise might be.

John said in most cases, in cases of "reasonable amount of duplication" and with a "reasonably strong server", these are not issues. John said in these cases, "neither of these are real problems. Most users won't notice the choice of URL, and crawling can still be sufficient."

Read More:http://goo.gl/qFnwYP

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Google's Matt Cutts: Anticipate The Query To Better Control Titles In Google

Google's Matt Cutts posted a video explaining why and when Google may use something other than your title tag for the search results title snippet.

Matt Cutts suggested that it is best for your to try to anticipate what the user will search for when crafting your title tags. When you do that and then when it matches the query, then Google will likely show your title tag.

Google uses three criteria when determining if they should use your title tag:

(1) Something that is "relatively" short
(2) Have a good description of the page and "ideally": the site that the page is on.
(3) And that it is relevant to the query.

If you fail on these criteria, then Google may use (1) content on your page, (2) anchor text links pointing to the page and/or (3) may also use the Open Directory Project.

Here is the video:

Read More:http://goo.gl/TJP8Of

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