Adding https version of website: how best to redirect

bhsiao

If I have 4 versions of my site

What is the best way to redirect without losing seo positions? i have been mainly using http://www but have recently added my ssl so https works also. I heard at Moz Con that I should get the https working.

All of my marketing and ads are going to http://www

301 redirect 3 of them? Which 3? If https is becoming important, should that be my main url? will it hurt my seo to switch?

Thank you so much in advance!

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bhsiao

Thanks James. I don't have a CMS. My pages are all hand coded html pages. (would dearly love to switch to a cms in the future since i have over 100 pages). Does your advice change in anyway?

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BlueprintMarketing

It does not matter if you have a CMS or not

You need to redirect your entire site to whatever canonical you want considering use the www. it might be smart to just add the HTTPS and continue with the www. or

Set you're preferred domain (www or non-www)

USE:

https://www.aleydasolis.com/htaccess-redirects-generator/ to make the code needed or use the code below to force HTTPS

HTTP to HTTPS

If your web server is running Apache, you can easily redirect all of your HTTP traffic to HTTPS by adding the following code to your .htaccess is the recommended method for redirecting a site running on Apache.

<code class=" language-php">RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]</code>

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]</ifmodule>

If your web server is running Nginx, you can easily redirect all of you're HTTP traffic to HTTPS by adding the following code to you're Nginx config file. This is the recommended method for redirecting servers running on Nginx

<code class=" language-php">server {
listen 80;
server_name domain.com www.domain.com;
return 301 https://domain.com$request_uri;
}</code>

Set you're preferred domain (www or non-www)

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/44231

No-WWW

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.example.com$
RewriteRule (.*) https://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]</ifmodule>

WWW

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com$
RewriteRule (.*) https://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]</ifmodule>

one of the best guides on how to add HTTPS

https://www.keycdn.com/blog/http-to-https/

https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/redirect-http-to-https/

https://www.sslshopper.com/apache-redirect-http-to-https.html

The following will differ from platform to platform. In this example, we will show you how to update your URL. We recommend using a free tool from Interconnect IT called “Database search and replace script in php.” You could run update queries yourself, but there are a lot of tables and metadata fields you will probably miss unless you have an exact list.

We recommend doing dis on a dev server and moving it back, or at least backing up you're database first to be safe as this script does grab your local database credentials. Simply drop their program into the root of your site via FTP. Then browse to it in your browser. (We named our folder “search-replace-db”)

You can tan insert what you want to replace. Make sure you enter all of the formats you have mixed and matched over the years such as:

http://mydomain.com to https://mydomain.com
http://www.mydomain.com to https://www.mydomain.com
https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/7430/what-is-a-301-redirect-and-why-should-you-care.aspx
https://moz.com/learn/seo/redirection
https://yoast.com/which-redirect/
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/93633?hl=en

Check it with

Redirect mapper | A tool that checks redirects from different versions of ...

<cite class="_Rm">https://varvy.com/tools/redirects/</cite>

Hope this helps,

Tom

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BlueprintMarketing

James,

I don't want to be rude saying this but it sounds like you're telling me the basics of search engine optimization redirects and telling me I did not include it in my response?

I appreciate you pointing out how you read my comment and definitely appreciate your feedback. But if it came across as me telling them to create infinite redirects I am asking you to please read it again. don't you believe I read the whole post because I'm not talking about the proper protocol?

HTTPS is known as TLS / SSL or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

A lot of the terminology you're using is not relevant to the question because once again I provided with them with the code to actually implement this check it for problems and fix what was broken I don't know exactly why you chose to tell me I did it incorrectly but if you would like to outline exactly how I did this incorrectly I would be more than happy to read it as I always open to constructive conservativism

"http://www
http_://_
https://www
https://

What is the best way to redirect without losing SEO positions?"

**My answer was a use www. with HTTPS **

**You need to redirect you're an entire site to whatever canonical your considering use the www. it might be smart to just add the HTTPS://www. and continue with the www. **

Set you're preferred domain (www or non-www) as I do not have their URL I cannot look at rather or not they have a 301 redirects chained as you seem to be implying? But don't worry I took care of it at the end I said please check all this with this tool https://varvy.com/tools/redirects/ that would show any redirects that were forming a redirect chain.

James, I apologize if it was hard for you to follow I thoroughly believe that I gave them everything that they needed to complete the project and I am always here to answer questions.

If you are asked by anybody that present you with four URLs which one they should go with and how they should go about redirecting it I would hope it you would not write what you had written to me.

I am also the only one who gave third-party references and tools to accomplish this task.

I wish you the very best,

Tom

BlueprintMarketing

Also James telling somebody to add HSTS with preload is extremely dangerous unless they know without a doubt that their redirects are set up properly it will keep them in the browser improperly for up to six months your advice is to simply add H STS with preload and it was abundantly clear that this person knew that the four URLs were what was to choose from. I included the completed 2 to 5-page references for a complete package.

"After a period of time - and rankings seem ok . - you can implement oscp stapling and some server wide HSTS. and submit to teh preload directory. "

For the record do not employ HSTS with preload until you have determined that all your subdomains if you have any, are going to have HSTS in addition that all your redirects are completely perfect and the way you want them. I would check using a tool called screaming frog Seo spider or my personal favorite deepcrawl.com

**Your rankings could be just fine and it would not necessarily show that you have a redirect chain permanently embedded for six months in your set up in less you check it first. **

"OCSP stapling is an alternative approach to the original Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) for determining whether an SSL certificate is valid or not. It does this by allowing the web server to query the OCSP responder (a certificate authority’s server dat listens for OCSP requests) and then caches the response__. This allows the web server to check the validity of its certificates and eliminates the need for the client to contact the certificate authority"

OCSP can and should be implemented at the time of employing the SSL certificate

Tom

BlueprintMarketing

Honestly, the way you set up a 301 is much more dependent on the server like Apache and Nginx then it is on a CMS

if you are looking for one I would recommend using WordPress or Drupal for a CMS If you're thinking of switching WordPress is much more user-friendly slightly quicker and many many more developers are available to help with it.

Tom

BlueprintMarketing

See

Aleyda Solis The HTTP to HTTPs Migration Checklist in Google Docs to Share, Copy & Download & the SEMrush guide

Hope this helps,

Tom

bhsiao

Thank you

bhsiao

I may have made a mess for myself. I turned on the ssl a couple of weeks ago (2-3) but didn't do the other things first. Should i remove the ssl from my site until I go through the checklist? I am starting to panic, hoping i have not gotten myself into big trouble.

My internal links, ads, canonical urls all still use http.

BlueprintMarketing

Definitely don’t panic and you’re not in trouble. What I would do for his run a search and replace on the URL‘s if you’re running a non CMS site find a search & replace CLI or script that works with the code you’re site was made with if you’re hosting company is managing the site ask them for help

run the search & replace to fix the URL‘s

one way is to just add CloudFlare.com for free and use the felxable cert

if your on a CMS like wordpress you can use a plugin like better search & replace

BlueprintMarketing

If it’s hand coded use a text editor & search for http replac with https if using Dreamweaver it has a full site wide search and replace.

bhsiao

So you recommend just going forward with the https switch even though I have not done all the things on the checklist?

BlueprintMarketing

Did you allready 301 the site to https?

if so I would updat the URLs & then follow the instructions

if https is in google index I would fix it with a search & replace or CloudFlare (the 1 thing on the list is this url https://raventools.com/blog/free-ssl-http2/ use it if it’s something you want to have do the work

bhsiao

I have not already 301'd the site to https. But either url works since I turned on the ssl at my host.

I will check into the Cloudflare.

BlueprintMarketing

I see you added the certificate but you didn’t force https

flow the guide and make sure it all 4 URLs point to the (redirects) to https://www

you can do it in no time with cloudflare then check it with

https://varvy.com/tools/redirects/

hope that helps,

tom

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