Our site recently switched from http to https. Do I still need to setup a redirect for the incoming links pointing to http?

[ninel_P]

Our site recently switched from http to https. If you type in the http://www.websitename.com then it will automatically go to https://www.websitename.com ... my question is... do I still need to create a redirect in the htaccess file to ensure we don't lose all the links currently pointing to the http version of the website?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Hi Christopher,

It is generally understood that when you move a site from http to https, that you should go through and have your links point to the new domain. However, in reality, that isn't possible for 99% of situations and as such, I have never yet had a client suffer because this wasn't done.

I don't think that Google would ever penalise a site because old links were not changed.

You should make sure that all new links point to the new domain though and that all internal canonicals are changed. Hard coded links can be a nightmare!

-Andy

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[ninel_P]

Hi,

I read through your comments and the other thread in detail. However, I guess I'm still a bit lost.

The site already redirects to https (not sure how this was set up... probably server/host side) and all the current 301 redirects I've set point to the HTTPS version.

My question is simply: Do i need to do anything further in the .htaccess file to ensure we don't lose the value coming in from all the external follow links pointing to the http version of the site?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

My question is simply: Do i need to do anything further in the .htaccess file to ensure we don't lose the value coming in from all the external follow links pointing to the http version of the site?

And very simply no

-Andy