How to maximize the chances for an effective HTTP to HTTPS migration? Check out these steps and do's & don'ts

1. Do's & Dont's for
HTTPs migrations
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

2. I’m Aleyda Solis
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

3. ORAINTI.COM @ALEYDA FB.COM/ALEYDASEOTIPS/
I Do SEO
BITLY.COM/LIBROSEOALEYDA
I’m Aleyda Solis
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
I PublishI Share

4. I Blog I Speak I’m Featured
I’m Aleyda Solis
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

5. Why moving?
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

6. It’s about security, users safety, trust &
experience
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

7. The perfect opportunity to start using
HTTP/2 & improve your site speed
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
bit.ly/http2seo

8. Provide another Positive Ranking signal
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

9. bit.ly/spreadhttps
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
It’s already becoming the “default” in top
SERPs

10. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
The goal is that your users can browse
securely, earning their trust

11. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Instead of this

12. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
While also migrating your rankings
& traffic from your HTTP to HTTPS URLs

13. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Without traffic drops

14. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Instead of this

15. bit.ly/httpsmigration
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Let’s see the most critical do’s & don’ts as well
as a checklist to maximize chances of success

16. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Before Moving

17. Don’t show and allow access to content via
your HTTPS version if you haven’t migrated yet
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

18. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
You want to avoid having mixed indexation,
cannibalization & content duplication issues

19. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Make sure to canonicalize and refer consistently
to your HTTP URLs to facilitate the migration
301-redirect Canonicalize Link
Include in
XML
Sitemaps
HTTP

20. Create GSC profiles for your HTTPS domains &
subdomains to start monitoring them
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

21. Don’t mix HTTPs migrations with
other structural Web changes
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

22. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Verify the type of SSL Certificate you need,
like wildcard ones for multiple subdomains
sslshopper.com

23. It doesn’t need to be expensive! You can even
do it for free by using Cloudfare
bit.ly/freehttps
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

24. Check with your hosting provider if they offer
them, as it might be easier to enable it too
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

25. If you work with CDNs you will also need to
activate it for your subdomains zones
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

26. Create a list of your top pages from a visibility
& conversion perspective to monitor closely
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

27. When Moving
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

28. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-
checker.html
Make sure that the SSL certificate
is effectively installed

29. For HTTP to HTTPS migrations you can’t use
GSC “Change of address” feature
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

30. Update your canonical & hreflang tags
so they refer to the HTTPS URLs
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t
do this

31. If your links use absolute URLs they need
to be updated with your HTTPS ones
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t
do this

32. Generate a new XML sitemap
with your HTTPS URLs
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t
do this

33. Implement 301-redirect from each of your
HTTP URLs to their HTTPS versions
bit.ly/redirectgenerator
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

34. #httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
bit.ly/chromedevicemode
It’s critical to move all the resources (images,
css, js) too to avoid “mixed content” issues

35. Remember these should be permanent 301-
redirects & not 302s
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

36. Make sure to also update your robots.txt
to your HTTPS domain & update URLs if needed
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

37. If you use Wordpress there’s a plugin that
facilitates it
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
https://es.wordpress.org/plugins/
really-simple-ssl/

38. After Moving
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

39. Validate your SSL certificate & secure content
status
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
https://www.whynopadlock.com/

40. Crawl your migrated site emulating both
desktop & smartphone Googlebots
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

41. Do also a list crawl of those top pages
that you wanted to prioritize
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

42. Have all URLs been migrated or are there any
remaining ones in the crawl? Is there a
performance change?
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

43. Do you find HTTP URLs in the crawl?
Errors, redirects & canonicalization issues?
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

44. See which old HTTP URLs you’re still linking,
if they’re showing errors or are redirected
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

45. Do the same looking for canonical tags
pointing to old HTTP URLs
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

46. Have XML sitemaps also been updated?
What’s the gap vs. the crawled URLs?
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

47. Check if the Page-to-Page Redirects are
Effectively Implemented with 301s
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t
do this

48. … and that they’re redirecting to the relevant
HTTPS URLs showing the content with a HTTP
200 OK Status
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t
do this

49. That there are no chained redirects between
them…
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t
do this

50. And If there’s an independent mobile Website,
verify that the redirects and rel alternates &
canonicals with desktop URLs are correct
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti
Don’t
do this

51. Prioritize the fix of those pages w/ erroneous
protocol, status & canonicalization w/ highest
traffic
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

52. Look for orphan URLs by identifying which
URLs with organic traffic are not in the crawl
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

53. Once you’ve checked all this is fixed you can
submit both your HTTP & HTTPS versions to be
re-crawled & submit XML sitemaps
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

54. And start monitoring maximizing your
changes to see this
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti

55. Thanks! Questions?
#httpsmigration at #SearchLDN by @aleyda from @orainti