Http to https for large ecommerce - our steps taken (any others recommended?)
-
**Here is the message from our technical team for the http to https migration; are there any other http to https migration steps recommended? **
Http to https migration steps (for this large ecommerce site):
We implemented HTTPS (HTTP over TLS) protocol today (5/4/2017).
- Applied a patch to ensure that HTTPS pages did not have NoIndex, NoFollow and tested before and after .
- Added new IIS HTTPS Redirect to enforce HTTPS from HTTP and changed others, including the WWW redirect
- Changed HTTPS only for Cookies as required as per new PCI vulnerabilities
- Changed the Basepage HTML template to use Relative Paths or Absolute URLs with HTTPS only (to prevent mixed content)
- Created and ran a SQL Script to cleanup 16 tables from HTTP to HTTPS (about 20,000 of them, including internal URL links, site settings, etc)
- Ran Google Sitemap Generator to create new sitemaps with HTTPS
- Added new HTTPS instance of the site into Webmaster Tools, then added verification code to master page, verified and then submitted the sitemaps to Search Console (QUESTION: will historical data in Google Console/ WMT be preserved for https?)
**Follow up steps for http to https migration for large ecommerce: **
- From this point forward, to avoid “mixed content”, the Marketing team must use either Relative Paths or Absolute Paths with HTTPS only in any customization (i.e. Basepage) or any new link, such as created in Content Management (i.e. Long Description). Any mixed content will make the website look not secure to customers and search engine spiders – so it is very important to be disciplined and diligent about this.
- Contact Salesforce to change the protocol to HTTPS only. Meanwhile, to prevent mixed content, we put in a temporary custom javascript change as workaround – but this should not be permanent especially as to the next upgrade will remove it – so we need Saleforce to make a change ASAP.
- We did not change Blog site (on sub domain), but we should even though it is only a Content site because it will not be signaled as Secure. This means we need to have someone make the changes to WordPress to enforce HTTPS and then change any links.
In terms of impact to page ranking due to Google’s treatment of HTTPS over HTTP and due to some impact to page speed – we will need to monitor closely to see how indexing, organic traffic and page ranking goes and take any additional actions as necessary.
-
You can try the service of Salesforce with the help of Axis consulting. I have tested it on my site.
-
Aleyda Solis has a pretty solid http to https checklist: http://www.aleydasolis.com/en/search-engine-optimization/http-https-migration-checklist-google-docs/
-
It looks like you followed a pretty good plan, the only thing I would recommend at this point would be to make all of your 301 redirects are 1 to 1. What I mean is, go over your 301 redirects to remove redirect chains, so you will update all of your old redirects that are pointing directly to the new https pages instead of chaining those redirects.
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
-
Http -> https redirections / 301 the right way
Dear mozers, Thank you for your time reading the message and wanting to help! So, we have moved our WordPress to https and redirected all the content successfully via htaccess file. We used a simple 301 redirect plugin, which we are using to redirect old URLs to the new ones. The problem today is, the redirections in the plugin are not working for http version. Here is an example: htaccess redirect: http --> https Plugin redirect domain.com/old --> domain.com/new but, the url http://domain.com/old is not redirecting to https://domain.com/new while https://domain.com/old does redirects to https://domain.com/new What can you suggest as a solution? Thank you in advance! P.S. I don't think having 2 redirects for each version of the URL is the smartest solution Best wishes, Dusan
Technical SEO | | Chemometec0 -
What are the SEO considerations when migrating a whole site from http to https
Hi Mozzers, I'm in the process of migrating a whole site, which has excellent rankings built through ongoing SEO over the years, from http to https. What is the safest way of doing this, while maintaining rankings? I'm assuming 301 redirect of every page from http to https? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | A_Q1 -
Can anyone recommend a wordpress forum for commercial theme help
Hi, i am trying to find a forum for wordpress when you have bought a commercial theme. I am looking at learning how to change a site for a better user experience and for better seo but there does not seem to be any wordpress forums that i can find for when people have bought a commercial theme any help in finding one would be great
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Recommendations. Need Hosting Company
I need a new hosting company asap. I am based in Costa Rica but need a reliable international service that supports Modx. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Technical SEO | | Llanero0 -
What steps can you take to help a site that does not change
Hi, i am working on a product and services website www.clairehegarty.co.uk but the problem i have is, the site does not really change. The home page stays the same and the only time it changes is when a new course is advertised. The most important page on the website is http://www.clairehegarty.co.uk/virtual-gastric-band-with-hypnotherapy but we have seen the site drop in rankings because the page is not being updated. This page has all the information you could want on weight loss but we have seen the page drop from number one in google to number four. I would like to know what steps we should take to increase our rankings in google and would be grateful for your suggestions. If i put in articles on the site, had a section where we put a new article every week, would this then get google to visit the whole site more and move our pages back up the rankings, or should we be looking at doing other things.
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
What is the first step for EMD ?
I recently purchased EMD and it was been indexed by google. I also add one unique content that was also indexed but didn't try any SEO yet.. I already installed Yoast SEO plugin for that.. can you let me know which is fastest method to get my EMD well ranked...
Technical SEO | | xplodeguru0 -
HTTP headers
don't know why I did not see it before but my server "Expires:" tage is set to: Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT Also I have no "Last-modified" http header either Crazy! How much do you guys think this type of thing hurts a site?
Technical SEO | | kevin48030 -
Recommended Wordpress Plugins
Hey Seomoz'ers, What would you recommend to use as plugins for wordpress when starting a new blog?
Technical SEO | | asimahme0