Google’s John Mueller  yesterday posted a FAQ on Google+ describing briefly about the factors that you need to take care while moving your website from HTTP to HTTPS. For those who have not yet upgraded to HTTPS, these points are a must read.

We have summarized his suggestions on Google Plus FAQs in points: 

  • Verified the website in Google Search Console with HTTPS
  • Do the A/B testing before moving your site permanently to https. Add canonical tag and 302 redirection on HTTP version while testing.
  • After doing A/B testing, follow Google’s site-move documentation before moving to HTTPS permanently. Apply 301 redirection and add rel=canonical tag on the HTTPS version.
  • Don’t forget to submit sitemap on new version
  • No need to make changes in robots.txt file, but check that you haven’t blocked HTTP url in HTTP robots.txt file
  • It is better to move in sections rather than moving the entire website at once
  • You can see the fluctuations in the ranking but Google system are usually good with HTTP to HTTPS moves.
  • Google said you won’t lose Page rank while applying 301 or 302 redirects when migrating from HTTP to HTTPS
  • To check how many pages are indexed of HTTPS, verify HTTP and HTTPS both in search console and then check index status for both versions
  • There is no time period that how long it will take. It depends on website size and crawling speed

Stay active on our blog to learn more about updates from Google. And if you need assistance in migrating your website from HTTP to HTTPS, feel free to contact FATbit team.

Recommended Read: 10 SEO Considerations When Moving Your Website from HTTP to HTTPS