path: root/posts/2014-08-08-google-is-using-https-as-a-ranking-signal.org

Earlier this week Google has announced that they will use HTTPS as a
ranking signal for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_rank][Page
Rank]].

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HTTPS is now a lightweight ranking signal: http://t.co/hOr1DS9trV.
Secure those sites! #WebmasterNews pic.twitter.com/qk9v9L8lvR

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--- Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) August 7, 2014

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A lot of people on Hacker News and Twitter were annoyed (even upstet for
some) by that decision. I understand some of the concern, but I don't
think they are legitimate:

-  Yes, most SSL certs are not free. But hosting a website has also a
   cost.

-  However, certificates are not always expensive. You can get one for
   $16 with [[https://www.gandi.net/ssl][Gandi]].

-  Yes, there is probably additional cost. You'll need the technical
   knowledge on how to set up the certificate. But it's the same for
   running a web site. If you don't know how to do it, you'll need
   someone to do it for you.

-  There's an opportunity for hosting companies to compete on this, and
   make it easier and cheaper for small business and individual to run a
   web site with TLS.

-  The Page Rank is already secret, no one know how important having TLS
   will impact the ranking.

-  Yes, it matters even for a "content only" site. How can you trust the
   content was not altered otherwise ?

-  This decision impact business more than anyone else. If you're
   worried that your own personal blog is going to be impacted, I don't
   want to be mean, but I doubt this will have a huge impact for you.

-  Google won't stop ranking you because you don't have TLS.

I really believe this is a first small step in the right direction.
Plain HTTP should die at this point.