Google’s warning to all webmasters

It’s no surprise that Google and anyone who uses the Internet prefers using a secure site versus an unsecured site, especially when it comes to making a purchase. But now, it seems Google will be marking sites as not secure if you only have an HTTP!

A few years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to have an HTTP site and then an HTTPS for your online booking engine as it securely processed credit card information. These days though, everything needs to be secure. So, even if you don’t take sensitive data on your site, it’s wise to make the move now to an HTTPS.

Google’s been talking about making the switch to HTTPS for a while now but they’re now adding a layer of notifications for website visitors. When a visitor goes to an HTTP site in incognito mode, they’re warned the site is not secure as well as when they put information into forms or login fields on an HTTP site. This could impact your email subscription sign ups as users will be warned that the site is not secure if you’re still using HTTP, or worse, it could pop up if you allow people to manually enter dates into your quick booking widget.

This warning will start with Chrome 62 that’s coming out next month. Thanks to Chromium for the illustration of how it’ll look with the roll-out:

The best course of action is to move over to an HTTPS designation. Learn more about the different types of SSL Certificates you can get to secure your HTTPS site on our SSL Certificate cheat sheet blog!