SEO Checklist for Indexing HTTPS URLs

It’s no secret that Google, and other search engines for that matter, prefer to protect their users by favoring a secure web browsing experience. Last year, Google announced that they would give a slight ranking boost to HTTPS URLs in search results. As of today, they’ve made another step towards more security by adjusting their indexing system to look for more HTTPS pages.

From Google’s Webmaster Central Blog –

Several conditions were listed for instances when HTTPS would be chosen over HTTP, though sometimes these can get confusing. To make it easier for you, I’ve compiled a short checklist for reviewing your clients’ sites and planning for a more secure web experience, and hopefully better rankings. *Fingers crossed*

Check redirects from HTTP to HTTPS

Does every page redirect? Is it just the homepage or current navigation?

Are they 301s?

Check internal links

Do internal links point to HTTP or HTTPS?

If proper redirects are in place this isn’t an immediate need, but eventually switching the internal links to HTTPS will reduce chance of errors with redirect chains

Canonicals, Alternates and Open Graph should all use HTTPS URLs as well

Check that Webmaster Tools for HTTPS versions

If you’re only tracking the HTTP version, add the secure version as well

Check XML sitemaps

are HTTP or HTTPS URLs used in sitemaps? If HTTP, make sure the sitemaps are updated to include the HTTPS version instead

Check Robots.txt files

Ensure that HTTPS URLs aren’t blocked for any reason