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The technical process for migrating from HTTP to HTTPS is a little complex. Luckily, your web provider or the Certificate Authority that provides you with your digital certificate usually have technical expertise and support lines to help you do this. This said, we provide some general information about this process here.
HTTPS: Who to go to
As we indicated in an earlier article, you can check with your web provider to see if they offer services to assist with HTTPS migration. Alternatively, you can go directly to a Certificate Authority.
Pick a certificate, any certificate
It is important to note that your web provider may not provide the exact type of certificate you are looking for (e.g. a Domain Validation certificate, an Organization Validation certificate, or an extended Validation certificate, as we discussed in our earlier piece. Check with them to make sure that they have the option that you need.
Choose the right coverage
After you select the type of digital certificate you want, you should consider your coverage needs. Depending on the complexity of your website, you have different options for what type of coverage your certificate provides, including:
1. Single domain: This covers one domain, such as www.yourbusiness.com.
2. Wildcard domain: This covers subdomains, such as www.youbusiness.com and the subdomain support.yourbusiness.com.
3. Multi-domain: This covers multiple domains, such as yourbusiness.com, yourotherbusiness.com, and myotherbusiness.com
Once you’ve decided on the type of digital certificate you need and its corresponding coverage, the next step is to install it on the server that hosts your website!
Install the certificate
Your certificate needs to be installed utilizing your web hosting control panel. As we indicated, work with your web provider or your Certificate Authority to do this. These companies provide detailed instructions and technical support lines that can give you the exact support you need to implement migration correctly.
Make a backup
Once you’ve installed your digital certificate, it’s important to make a backup copy in case the server crashes or needs to be replaced.
Go over your final checklist
Think about mixed content
Your website may have certain components, such as video and images, that you want to be secured by HTTPS. Work with your web provider or Certificate Authority to ensure that all the content of your website is secured by HTTPS during migration.
Make sure to check your 301 Redirects
What is a 301 Redirect? Basically, this occurs when someone types a web address and gets redirected to another page. During HTTPS migration, this is important, because you’ll want all the pages from http://www.yourwebsite.com to go to https://www.yourwebsite.com. When you talk to your web provider or your preferred certificate authority, confirm that they provide this service for you.
Look inside
If there’s any internal content in your website that has links to other parts of your website, you may want to find and replace those links with your new HTTPS links. Even if you’ve facilitated 301 Redirects, it is important to do this due to technical issues that could lower site performance and page speed.
Check social media
Similarly, check your social media sites for links you can easily replace. While it’s not necessary to replace all of the links to your website thanks to 301 Redirects, it’s good practice to do this where you can for your most popular pages and accounts.
Google Analytics
If you have a Google Analytics account, you may want to change your Default URL from HTTP to HTTPS. Check out this page for more information.
Other details
This article provides general tips on the importance of HTTPS. Please keep in mind that there are additional technical details involved in this process, about which you should consult with your web provider or Certificate Authority.
Check out more resources on cybersecurity at BBB.org/cybersecurity.
