When browsing any site on the internet, the term HTTP or HTTPS will appear before the site address in your search bar.

HTTP means HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is what defines the message structure between the web browser and the web server. It is the basis of all communication on the world wide web and comes in two forms: HTTP and HTTPS.

Both HTTP and HTTPS serve the same main function, however, HTTPS encrypts your connection and prevents several potential problems when browsing the web. When websites are not secured with HTTPS, hackers can send users to fake websites, steal passwords, run third-party ads and use the browsers of unaware web users for cryptocurrency mining.

HTTP is becoming increasingly less common with over 90% of web traffic in the US using HTTPS secured connections. Despite its decline, HTTP is still found among the largest sites on the internet. As shown on the website whynohttps, many of the worlds most visited websites including bbc.com and espn.com still use HTTP versions of their website.

Last month, Google made a push in favor of HTTPS on their internet browser, Chrome. The company began to show warnings on non-HTTPS websites where users could share personal data such as their credit card information or their password. This change comes from Google’s effort to improve web security and data safety.

Further changes coming to the Google Chrome browser in upcoming months will push more site owners to switch their website over to HTTPS. In September, Chrome will begin to change the green ‘secure’ label next to HTTPS websites into a less noticeable black label. In the following month, HTTP sites will show a noticeable red ‘not secure’ label on the left of the website URL. And finally, the ‘secure’ label will be removed completely in a later month. This will presumably be when most of the commonly used sites on Chrome have switched over to HTTPS. To facilitate the process, an initiative sponsored by Google, Facebook, and Mozilla called Let’s Encrypt has been created to help website owners secure their HTTP websites free of charge.

Aside from the addition of warning labels as a push to change HTTP sites to HTTPS, Google has also introduced HTTPS as a ranking signal for SEO. Stating that security is a priority, Google uses HTTPS as a lightweight SEO signal for page ranking. Despite carrying significantly less weight than other SEO factors right now, Google plans on strengthening the importance of HTTPS for SEO in the future. For any marketing professional wishing to improve or maintain their Google webpage ranking, switching over to HTTPS before Google increases its importance is an important move.

Google’s push towards a safer world wide web with the help of HTTPS is a step in the right direction for the history of the internet. With HTTP being outdated and unsafe, it is wise to avoid entering personal data in HTTP sites and switching your personal website over to HTTPS as soon as possible.