Security Warnings on http Pages From October 2017
This isn't one of the most alluring headlines is it ... but I feel I'd be failing in my duty as a web designer not to alert my present and future clients to what Google is getting up to behind the scenes.
Google has already encouraged website owners to ensure that their websites are hosted on SSL certificate enabled servers. This certificate offers extra protection for website visitors and in return a favourable boost in search engine results for wesbite owners. Website addresses with this protection have slightly different urls e.g.: https://www.mywebsite.com (and a visible green padlock).
Now we learn that from October 2017 Google will be warning visitors to all sites without that added "S" in the url - that they are visiting an un-secured website. “Eventually, we plan to label all HTTP pages as non-secure, and change the HTTP security indicator to the red triangle that we use for broken HTTPS,” Chrome Security Team Emily Schechter said.
The bottom line is that visitors to 'non-secure' sites will quickly move off a site as soon as they land on it!
Some interpret this as Google forcing webmasters to move to HTTPS and for owners with multiple sites this can prove costly. In the UK the costs vary but many start at around £50 pa on top of the normal hosting costs.
Those of you familiar with my web design costs will already be aware that my servers are all SSL enabled and my cost for an SSL certificate is £30 pa. This brings the cost of hosting for a standard website to £80 pa. You can read more about my web costs on my hosting page.