HTTP → HTTPS Migration - Both Websites Live Simultaneously
-
We have a situation where a vendor, who manages a great deal of our websites, is migrating their platform to HTTPS. The problem is that the HTTP & new HTTPS versions will be live simultaneously (in order to give clients time to audit both sites before the hard switch). I know this isn't the way that it should be done, but this is the problem we are facing.
My concern was that we would have two websites in the index, so I suggested that they noindex the new HTTPS website until we are ready for the switch. They told me that they would just add cannonicals to the HTTPS that points to the HTTP and when it's time for the switch reverse the cannonicals.
Is this a viable approach?
-
We will definitely employ the 301 redirects once we completely audit the HTTPS site for any absolute links. I just wanted to ensure that we wouldn't have two sites in the index during the transition. Thanks for the feedback.
-
Hey there! Great question and sounds like you are thinking through the important things.
I think the canonical approach is best, especially if URLs and content are staying the same. I would not mess around with robots.txt or noindex at this point as the canonical should keep the one out of the index and allow the other to rank.
Longterm of course, a proper 301 redirect strategy is the right solution. But short term, to test user behavior/conversions/rankings, a canonical is a great way to go.
-
Thanks.
-
Their plan to use canonicals is a great approach.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
About DA of the Website
Hi There, I would like to know why one of my website - https://patnalocalguide.com Domain Authority is not improving. It is not going up and down but it is maintaining its score between 10 since last 5 months. Not going above 10 or below. Why is it so? I'm conitnuously working on creating backlinks for the website and the DR score on Ahref improving but the DA is not. What steps to follow to increase DA? How to find out whats going wrong with our present strategy?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MozByAnuj0 -
We are redirecting http and non www versions of our website. Should all versions http (non www version and www version) and https (non www version) should just have 1 redirect to the https www version?
We are redirecting http and non www versions of our website. Should all versions http (non www version and www version) and https (non www version) should just have 1 redirect to the https www version? Thant way all forms of the website are pointing to one version?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Caffeine_Marketing0 -
HTTPS during or after redesign
Performing a website redesign and with that we are going to be deindexing a lot of pages and make big changes to the site architecture. With all of these big changes happening with the redesign, should we include the change to https during the redesign or about 4-6 months after? If we do it after we will have time to diagnose any shortcomings of the redesign. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Trent.Warner0 -
Best practice to redirect http to https
I have an SSL certificate on our domain but at times some search results still list the HTTP version. Clicking on this then warns the user about security and they leave. To avoid this I am using this in the htaccess file to redirect all HTTP visits to the https version. RewriteEngine On
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Gavpeds
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://domain.com/$1 [R,L] Is this ok? I notice on Moz toolbar it give a 302 temporary redirect I am thinking this isn't good and needs to be a 301 maybe? What is the best practice in this situation?1 -
From http to https
Hi Guys, I have mixed http and https content on my ecommerce store. My server people is telling me force all to https as it is better for ssl certificate. All versions of the site are declared on search console. Can forcing https and not having more mixed content impact my site badly ? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kepass0 -
Redirecting M Dot Mobile Website to Responsive Design Website Questions
Hi amazing Moz community 🙂 Couldn't find this question anywhere, and knew this was the place to ask! We are helping a client redirect an M Dot website to a Responsive Design website. We want to retain our mobile rankings for keywords. Three questions - We should use 301 redirects from the M Dot website to the new website correct? (not 302s?) How long does it take for Google to understand that we have launched a responsive website? Can we remove the 301 redirects after a few days (if the M Dot website interferes/breaks the new Responsive website)? We have verified an account on Google Search Console for the M Dot website, along with a mobile sitemap that has been submitted and verified. What should we do with this M Dot GSC account? Just delete it? Or keep it and upload the NEW XML Sitemap with the new WWW links (because the website is responsive). THANK YOU!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | accpar0 -
Website Redirection Issue
Hi All, Like to know is there any better way to do 301 redirection. My Client whose website name is Online Plants created with OpenCart. Over the period of time he added nearly 10,000's of products and now he is cleaning them ( by grouping similar attribute under one products) which is right way to do. For example , Product A with different size ( X,XL,XXL ) previously had 3 product entry ( A - X, A - XL, A - XXL ) , now he is moving all of them under one. So while moving he is deleting the other two entry. Now whats the best way to inform google . Putting a manual 301 redirection for each and every product is impossible as there are more products. Whats the best way to go ahead on this.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Verve-Innovation1 -
Regional websites
Hi, I run 4 websites London, New York, Singapore and Dubai. Same company but some of our products are different in each region. Each domain is registered in the relevant region and I have google webmaster tools set so they know the location of each website. The problem is that our Dubai and US websites are appearing higher that the UK website in google.co.uk organic. Does anyone have any ideas why? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | markc-1971830