Best URL when adding an SSL certificate . . .

[Wookii]

Our (small) company is a little late to the party on this, and we've only just realised that we're better off with an SSL certificate for our website. (Yes I know, I know, but we dropped SEO some time ago after getting severely bitten by a certain Penguin, and are only just making tentative step back to it after those intervening years, so we're running to get back up to date with these things.)

This has now been implemented, but our web guy has dropped the 'www' element during the process.

Our http://domain.com address has always historically been redicrected to our main http://www.domain.com address.

Now our web guy has implemented the SSL cert, our website URL is appearing as https://domain.com, and he has redirected the http://www.domain.com to that new URL.

Obviously all our historic (and more recent) link building has been to the http://www.domain.com address.

Is this an issue, should the new Https URL keep the 'www', or does it make no difference what so ever?

Conversely could it actually be of benefit dropping the 'www.' because our keyword specific product URL's are now 4 characters closer to the http and 4 digits shorter?

Finally, on the links we have control of (professional trade associations etc) do we need to ask them to change the links to the new Https address, or does the transition from Http to Https make no difference?

[CraigSymcox]

When installing an SSL certificate on a website, the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) you use to access it should include the "https://" protocol scheme rather than "http://". Here's the preferred URL format:

Example like (In this URL): https://www.example.com

https: This protocol signifies that the connection is secured with SSL/TLS encryption. It is critical for securely transmitting sensitive information across the internet.

www.example.com: This is the domain name for your website. Replace "www.example.com" with your actual domain.

Using "https" rather than "http" means that the communication between the user's browser and the web server is encrypted, resulting in a secure and private connection. It's particularly crucial for websites that handle sensitive information, such as login credentials, personal details, or financial transactions.

In addition to changing the URL, you need set up your web server to enforce HTTPS, so that all requests are automatically forwarded to the secure version of your website. This helps to ensure a consistent and secure user experience.

If you're making this modification on a popular web server like Apache or Nginx, you may need to alter your server configuration files to allow SSL and set up the SSL certificate. Refer to your web server's manual for detailed instructions relevant to your environment.

[kjhh]

When you are adding an SSL certificate in your website. Its a need to consider whether you want to use "www" or not. Both options are valid, and the choice depends on your preference and the structure you want for your website's URLs.

[daanscholten]

Hi Wookii,

I had the same problem as you have. In my opinion there is not much difference in www with or without. You can read more about it at this link from Moz:  https://moz.com/community/q/should-i-get-an-ssl-if-my-non-ssl-site-is-ranking-well

All the best,

Daan (Djinq.com)