How to migrate to HTTPS and HTTP/2?

Why HTTPS and HTTP/2 Aren’t Optional

You know that “Not Secure” warning Chrome slaps on HTTP sites? It’s like a neon sign screaming, “Run away!” Visitors bolt, especially if you’re asking for logins or card details. HTTPS encrypts everything between your server and users, so sensitive stuff stays safe. Plus, Google’s got a soft spot for HTTPS—it’s a ranking boost, and who doesn’t want to climb the search ladder?

HTTP/2’s like swapping a bike for a sports car. It handles multiple requests at once (techies call it multiplexing) and squishes data headers to speed things up. And HTTP/3? It’s the new kid, cutting lag with QUIC tech—think of it as HTTP/2 with an energy drink. Both play nice with Google’s Core Web Vitals, those nitpicky metrics that can tank or tank your SEO.

Heads-Up: Need a server that won’t choke on HTTPS or HTTP/2? Scope out our post How to Choose the Best Web Hosting: Is a Pricier Server Always Better?.

Your Game Plan for Going HTTPS

1. Snag an SSL Certificate and Get It Rolling An SSL certificate’s what flips your site to HTTPS. Easiest move? Grab a freebie from Let’s Encrypt. Running an online shop? Maybe splurge on a paid certificate from DigiCert for that extra trust factor. Once it’s live, test it with SSL Labs. You want an A or A+. Anything less? Time to tweak.

2. Test HTTP and HTTPS Like a Paranoid Detective Don’t kill HTTP yet—let it coexist with HTTPS while you play detective. Both versions need to run side by side till you’re sure HTTPS isn’t tripping over itself. Fire up your site in a browser with HTTPS (like https://yourdomain.com). Click around. Pages, images, scripts, styles—everything should load like it’s on autopilot. Run it through Why No Padlock? to catch mixed content, those pesky HTTP bits sneaking into your HTTPS setup. If your browser starts whining about blocked content, some assets (images, CSS, or JavaScript) are still stuck in HTTP land. We’ll sort that next.

3. Flip Every URL to HTTPS Now, go all-in on HTTPS. Every link on your site needs to switch, including: HTML stuff (links, images, scripts). CSS (like those sneaky background images). JavaScript files. If you’re on WordPress or Joomla, plugins like Really Simple SSL are lifesavers—they do the grunt work for you. Using a CDN? Turn on SSL in its settings. Hostiserver’s CDN service makes this stupid-easy.

4. Slap on a 301 Redirect When HTTPS is purring like a kitten, set up a 301 redirect to herd all HTTP traffic to HTTPS. It’s like telling Google, “Hey, we’ve moved, but keep the SEO points.”

For Apache (.htaccess):
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

For Nginx:
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

Check it’s working with Redirect Checker. No hiccups? You’re golden.

5. Add a Referrer Meta Tag Want to know where your visitors are headed next? Drop in a referrer meta tag. It’s like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for analytics. Plop this in the head of every page: <meta name="referrer" content="origin">

Miss this, and Google Analytics might leave you hanging with missing referral data.

6. Buddy Up with Google Search Console Add your HTTPS site as a new property in Google Search Console (https://yourdomain.com). Toss in your sitemap.xml through Search Console. Peek at “Crawl Errors” and squash anything funky. Use the “URL Inspection” tool to ping Google for a reindex.

Sneaky Tip: Worried about someone hijacking your site’s vibe? Check out How to Protect Your Website from Proxy Mirrors.

7. Fire Up HTTP/2 and HSTS HTTP/2: Most servers (Nginx, Apache) flip on HTTP/2 once SSL’s good to go. Test it with KeyCDN’s HTTP/2 Checker to be sure you’re in the fast lane.

HSTS: HTTP Strict Transport Security is like telling browsers, “HTTPS only, no funny business.” Add this to your server:

For Nginx:
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;

Feeling extra? Get your site on the HSTS Preload List for max security cred. Nerdy Tidbit: HTTPS got all the hype after Chrome cracked down on security. Wanna know more? Read How Chrome 68’s Release in July 2018 Impacts Your Website.

A Real-Life Win

Picture this: my pal’s online store was stuck in HTTP purgatory. We followed these steps, and boom—three months later, traffic spiked 15%, and their bounce rate dropped from 45% to 38%. The trick? Nailing those 301 redirects and scrubbing every last bit of mixed content. It’s not rocket science, but it pays off.

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