Google has announced an important update to its web browser (Chrome 62) to show a “NOT SECURE” warning when users enter text in a form on an HTTP page.
HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) and HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) are both protocols for passing information between web servers and clients. HTTPS is a secure connection, whereas HTTP is unsecure. From October 24 Google Chrome users will see a “Not secure” warning for all HTTP pages when entering text into a form field and for all HTTP pages in Incognito mode.
This move has been on the cards for some time as part of Google’s push to make the internet more secure through mandatory SSL certification for all web pages, as reported in our February 2017 blog: Google favours SSL by shaming non HTTPS sites in 2017.
What does the Chrome update 62 mean for your website?
Google started the year by labelling HTTP pages with password or credit card form fields as “Not secure” in the address bar. This resulted in a 23% reduction in navigations to HTTP pages with password or credit card forms on desktop.
Inevitably, Google will advance their cause to its ultimate conclusion where all HTTP web pages will be flagged as not secure. Quite simply, unless your site has the secure HTTPS prefix, then it will appear in Google Chrome as not secure.
Google Chrome has a 44.5% share of the web browser market, relegating the once-dominant Internet Explorer to third place at 15.5 percent market share, behind Apple Safari who takes second place with 25.4 percent.
What can you do about it?
If you are thinking about getting a new website designed, then ensure that your contract includes an SSL Certificate for each page, and that this is renewed annually. The cost of SSL Certification has reduced significantly this year, making the additional expense nominal.
If you do not wish to get a new website, then you can simply convert the pages on your existing site to HTTPS.
Is converting to the HTTPS protocol difficult?
It is important to note that whilst the conversion process is straightforward, there are additional steps that need to be taken to ensure there is no disruption to your site’s rankings with the search engines. Skipping these steps could result in your site disappearing altogether from search results.
For more information on conversion to HTTPS without losing your page rankings contact Web Tonic