Google’s July Deadline is Here. Here’s How it Affects You.

Your HTTP site is about to be labeled ‘not safe’

My HTTP site was about to get Google slapped. I found that out this morning. I nearly choked on my coffee. The article I was reading said that many websites were close to being dropped or severely hampered in Google search.

Was it because of spammy links or a bunch of nonsense posted? Not at all. It was an issue I had no clue about. And it’s this…

What’s Going to Happen?

Starting in July, Google Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure.” So?

Well, it’s kind of a big deal. Google Chrome makes up 61.2% of the entire browser market share.

What will happen is people visiting your website will get a scary big red honking warning telling them this is a non-secure site. Not to mention the advice not to continue. Of course, users will have a choice to keep going or go back to Google search.

What do you think people will do? Unless they are perfect candidates for Nigerian email scams, they will not continue to your site.

This will result in serious potential loss of business.

I for one was not willing to take that chance. First thing this morning I dutifully moved my site hosting over to CloudFlare which offers the service for free. I found this out from my provider BlueHost.

Check Out My HTTPS Certificate

You’ll need to have this pretty green lock next to your URL. This is Google-approved.

Naturally, if you have a bigger or more complex site than mine (most people do). Then it looks like you’re going to have to fork over a few bucks to get that SSL.

Here’s What You Need to Do

First, you’ll want to contact your webhost, be it Go Daddy, BlueHost, HostGator etc. Then let them know you need a SSL certificate for your website.  It should be free depending on the type of site you have.

There are two free services called Let’s Encrypt which is an open source project. However, many of the big webhosts will not support this.

The other is CloudFlare. If your host company does not offer this option, you can sign up for free on their website and transfer the hosting to them without a hitch.

I did it this morning and it worked fine. Give it a shot and avoid the Google slap. Plus it will give your visitors a faster, better experience.

Let me know how you make out. Or, if you need any help.