Redirect http to https

HTTPS should be everywhere, and lately, Google has considered this as a ranking signal to their search engine results.

There are two primary reasons you should consider securing your website with an SSL certificate.

  • Security – to ensure sensitive data is encrypted from a user browser to the web server or network edge. Having SSL also give some trust to the visitor that your website is secure.
  • SEO – HTTPS is a new ranking signal, and the big boss is watching you, so don’t be behind in the race.

If you are worried about the cost, then let me remind you, you can get the SSL certificate in FREE from many issuers. And most of the shared hosting offers free SSL. 

While Netscape originally invented SSL in the mid-90s, it didn’t become compulsory for every website to install an SSL/TLS certificate until the Summer of 2018 when Google began marking unencrypted sites “Not Secure.”

While Google – with its search engine, Chrome browser, and Android OS – can redefine the internet unilaterally, it was not alone on this mandate. Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla and the other major stakeholders in the tech industry have all made a concerted decision to mandate SSL/TLS certificates and HTTPS.

The reason for that is simple: without SSL/TLS and the ability to connect securely via HTTPS, all communication between websites and their visitors would be in plaintext and easily readable by a third party.

HTTPS would also boost the search engine ranking, so you may consider having this for your blog as well.

There are many ways to put this redirection, and the following is a quick list where you can search the net for how to do it. 

  • Apache: Where you tell the Apache server, that it should always start the site on the https:// and if a user types http:// it will redirect and load your site in the secure  htpps:// mode.
  • NginX: Where you add a server directive by redirect 301 to your https:// mode.   
  • Cloudflare: If you are using Cloudflare you can just assure this by using (always use https in you SSL setup.
  • cPanel: Many shared webhosting have a way for you to make changes and setup your site, often cPanel is used. First thing you need to ensure the hosting provider offer SSL and enabled for your site.
    Here you should fined your site files, if you use some kind of CMS, like WordPress or, Drupal or other CMS, you should find ht access (no space between them) file, and just a few lines of code, where you basicly say
    "if the user types http// with your site, then redirect to https// mode of your site"
redirect
  • There are many different dashboards like cPanel, that helps the site owner of a shares webspace to make changes and setup for your site as Sucuri, Krista, SiteGround,  and many others, same procedure ensure that you activate or enable and enforce HTTPS.

Conclusion

That's it folks hope the above instructions helps you.