tvura

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

And, if you care about SEO, invest in User Experience. Aligning SEO and UX offers too many mutual benefits to ignore.

Why is SEO and User Experience Alignment Important?

Alignment is no longer a “nice to have”. It must be viewed as a requirement for any brand that heavily relies on organic search as part of their marketing strategy. Google’s Page Experience and the Core Web Vitals that help the search engine measure it, are now used to rank pages for both mobile and desktop search. At the heart of Page Experience is a focus on improved user experience.

In effect, this is Google saying: Hey, it’s no longer enough to have good, authoritative information on your page, and it’s no longer enough to have optimized titles and tags, because if your page loads too slowly or your ads are overly intrusive, for example, the user suffers. You still need good information and optimized page structure, of course, but the user experience is now critical in determining whether Google is willing to recommend your content (with a high search rank).

The hallmark of an optimal search-originated user experience is seamless continuity. In other words, the promise of the search result is fulfilled by a click that returns the expected information without requiring the user to wait long for it, dig for it or clear away pop-ups, interstitials and other detritus to access it. The best experience is usually the one the user doesn’t notice. Easy enough.

Creating a seamless user experience is far from easy, though. A big part of that is because the user experience is the combined efforts of SEO, IT, content, brand, monetization and other folks whose goals and priorities, when not in direct opposition, are not always aligned. Without that alignment, however, the user experience suffers, and a lousy user experience tallies its costs in lost business. With SEO more directly influencing and dependent on the user experience, the stakes of alignment are higher than ever.

How Do We Align SEO and The User Experience?

During a recent BrightEdge webinar, Leveraging SEO for a Better User Experience, we explored specific actions organizations can take to achieve alignment and demonstrated how BrightEdge users can leverage the BrightEdge platform in support of SEO / User Experience collaboration. A summary of the recommended actions is below. We’ve also made the full webinar available for download, which expands on the advice here and walks through six specific actions BrightEdge users can perform in the platform to bolster a collaboration between SEO and UX.

1. Enable Collaboration

SEO and UX teams must first get on the same page by understanding and agreeing that improving the experience is good for both users and SEO. To support a shared mission, build a set of collaborative goals that connect to each team’s performance metrics.

Building a shared mission requires knowledge and resource sharing, as well. Determine what knowledge will further the mission and then acquire that knowledge through A/B testing, search data analysis and competitive research. Leverage search data to define user intent for the UX team. Share knowledge in more conventional ways, too, through written primers and “SEO 101” and “UX 101” training sessions.

2. Understand Your Page Pathways

A page pathway is the sequence of pages a visitor will follow from entrance to conversion. Page pathways present something of a chicken and egg situation: the better you understand your audiences the better you can optimize pathways, but understanding your audience often requires first understanding the pathways they choose. With SEO to help steer users to the best path from organic search followed by deliberate on-site navigation and page layout decisions to further direct them, SEO and UX teams can improve conversion.

3. Work Incrementally and Measurably

Both SEO and UX are not as much about knowing the right answer at the start, but doggedly testing and measuring incremental changes to find meaningful improvements. It’s important, also, to track all changes, not just the ones aimed at improving the user experience. Even seemingly innocuous changes can positively or negatively impact engagement, so be sure you can track those impacts back to their causes.

4. Align on Performance

Aligning SEO and UX is not a one-time project, but rather must be an ongoing collaboration. It’s necessary for the collaboration to define clear roles and responsibilities for team members and regular stand-ups to establish and maintain alignment. Additionally, all collaborators must mutually agree on metrics, including some specific collaborative metrics, including Core Web Vitals.

Be sure to watch the webinar recording and reach out to our SEO experts to find out how the BrightEdge platform can be leveraged to support your organization’s SEO / UX collaboration.

tvura

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

What is an integrated marketing campaign?

As marketers we distinguish between campaigns in different channels, because of differences in format, cost, frequency and dozens of other variables. Often, marketing staff are siloed with one team handling organic social, another team, SEO, another team handling events and so on. So, it’s easy to forget that our customers don’t necessarily make the same distinctions. In fact, a guiding principle of integrated marketing as it was formally defined by Northwestern professor and “father of integrated marketing communications,” the late Don E. Schultz, is that from the many points of exposure to and interaction with a brand, consumers form one singular perception.   

An integrated marketing campaign, then, is a cross-channel marketing strategy that involves creating consistent campaigns across different platforms to provide a cohesive experience for the customer. Each brand experience should be consistent whether a customer experiences the brand through social media, direct marketing or another channel. 

Why is integrated marketing important? 

An integrated marketing campaign understands that customers are not confined to a single channel. Consumers today are encountering brands and advertisements everywhere they go, from the bus to their favorite websites to their email. For your brand to stand out to customers, you need to create campaigns that live on the platforms that customers frequent. Simultaneously, the campaigns must share similar features, so they stand out in customers’ minds and build on each other in customers’ perception and awareness of the brand and offering. 

When your campaign is fully integrated, customers will recognize your brand regardless of where they see it. This will help them remember what you had to say, thus strengthening your relationship with them. 

What are the elements of an integrated marketing strategy? 

A quality integrated marketing campaign will take on a few features. Visually and textually, they will provide consistent messaging regardless of the platform. The colors, layout and images should all be easily recognizable across the different formats. 

Your campaign should also specifically target a variety of platforms that are regularly viewed by your target audience. Break down social media sites, email touch points, PPC keywords and any other channels that will be leveraged in the campaign to maximize exposure for the particular buyer persona. 

You also want to make sure that any customer-facing employees are informed about this campaign. For example, if you have a physical store, make sure employees know how to redeem email coupons for online discounts. 

How to build an integrated marketing campaign? 

1. Decide who the campaign will target and how success will be measured. 
2. Identify where this targeted audience is most likely to engage and interact with your content and make those channels the focus of the campaign. 
3. Bring together the marketing and sales teams that will participate in the campaign and have them align with goals. 
4. Have the teams outline how they will contribute to achieving the goals. 
5. Use your defined metrics to judge the success of your campaign and to understand which platforms are the most effective at bringing in these customers. 
6. Use this information to guide future campaigns to be more efficient and more productive. 

Integrated marketing campaigns are an important part of reaching modern consumers. This type of campaign hinges on the belief that consumers do not interact with your brand in just one channel, and that not all customers interact with your brand in all channels. Instead, they will be using a different mix of platforms. An integrated campaign helps you effectively meet these people and bring them closer to your brand. 

andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

Did you know that 15% of all search queries have never been searched before? Well, that’s according to Google in a recent tweet. We don’t know about you, but we think it clearly highlights the fact that keyword research should be an ongoing process.

The last two weeks have seen several small feature releases and updates from both Google and Bing. Google is trialing a new section called “Buying Guides” in search results that may present opportunities for content marketers. The prioritization of local news in search results is also highly positive. 

Bing has also made some notable changes. Automobile-related results are showing on search pages. And PubHub has been incorporated into webmaster tools. 

Finally, Search Advocate John Mueller clarified several long-standing SEO questions. If you’ve ever wondered about whether or not to display CTAs above the fold, change dates after updating content, or use original photography, you’ll be interested in his answers. 

Let’s dig into all the latest SEO updates, feature releases, and analysis from the last two weeks. 

Google Trials Buying Guides

A new feature called Google Buying Guides is currently being trialed by the search engine. The widget currently appears for some product-related terms in mobile results. Users can choose from various options, including content suggestions that review searched-for products in more depth. 

While this feature is still embryonic, it is potentially very good news for content marketers. Buying Guides widgets use dropdowns that, when selected, describe a certain type of product - such as “baseball bats'' - in more depth. These dropdowns display third-party content.

As a publisher, having your content shown here has obvious benefits in terms of generating site traffic. If Google decides on a full rollout, you should seriously consider optimizing your content to increase its chances of appearing. 

Google Prioritizes Local News Publications

Google announced that it would be giving greater priority to local news publications by including them in Top Stories, a widget that appears in generic search results. It is also giving publishers more control over which stories appear in the local section of the Google News aggregator. 

This is excellent news for small news websites which have to fight with large publications for a limited amount of search real estate.

In a post published on its main blog, The Keyword, Google said: “Today, we’re doing more to make it easier to find local publishers in Google News Showcase by bringing their panels into the local section of Google News. News Showcase publishers hand pick the content for these local panels, enabling them to highlight the most important stories of the day in their area and giving them another powerful way to deepen their relationship with readers.”

Bing Adds Automobile Search Features

Microsoft Bing has added new automobile features to its search pages. Browsers that search for car-related terms will see a dedicated area displaying a selection of cars that are listed on the MSN Autos Marketplace. Bing has also included filters for narrowing down results by budget, year of manufacture, color, and so on. 

This new feature will be of interest to car dealers and individuals in the process of selling their cars (listing on MSN autos is straightforward). From a more general perspective, it will also prove beneficial to buyers forced to navigate a tumultuous and often under-supplied post-COVID car market. 

Bing Incorporates PubHub into Webmaster Tools

News PubHub, a Bing service that helps news publishers distribute their content, has been moved to the Webmaster Tools console. It was previously accessed via its own site, which is still live but now links to Bing Webmaster. 

If you are a news site and have not already submitted your site for inclusion in the Bing news index, you can do so by following the PubHub guidelines. You can check your approval status from within the Webmaster console. 

Publishers will also have access to extra analytics features that allow them to see how readers are interacting with their stories in real time.

This should enable them to respond quickly to trends, add context to stories, and organize their panels more effectively. 

John Mueller Clears Up Issues Around CTAs Above the Fold

Although this isn’t a major announcement, it relates to a point of contention that is often raised in SEO circles. Ask the question, “Is it bad to put CTAs above the fold?” and you’ll get a whole range of differing responses. 

Well, not anymore. Google Search advocate John Mueller has said in no uncertain terms that it doesn’t matter. He said, "Google search doesn't say anything about CTA buttons."

If you’ve been concerned about displaying an opt-in or other call-to-action above the fold, you’re safe to do so as it might lead to more direct response conversions. However, keep in mind that above-the-fold CTAs are not pop-ups, which can be detrimental to rankings. 

Change Dates in Certain Circumstances, Says John Mueller

When should you change the publication date of evergreen or partially evergreen content? 

In a recent tweet, Search Advocate John Mueller said, “When you write something new, or significantly change something existing, then change the date.”

This might seem like common sense advice, but it’s worth restating here because it's an area of common confusion. It means that date changes are sometimes warranted but not in all cases.

“Fake changing” dates can lead to penalties and doesn’t represent a good way of letting Google know that evergreen content is still relevant despite remaining the same. And only minor changes and reviews probably don’t warrant a date change (an in-content note is preferable). “Significant” is the key word here. 

John Mueller Recommends Using Original Photographs in Product Reviews

John Mueller has said that websites publishing product guides and reviews should use their own photographs. Original images may positively affect rankings after a manual site review by a member of Google’s Quality Rater team. 

In an SEO office-hours hangout on the 4th of February, John Mueller said, “I think the guidelines that we have for reviews, or the recommendations that we have, should really be focused on unique photos that you create of these products, so not artificial review photos.”

To close out this edition of SEO Bright Now, I leave you with a few SEO jokes:

• How does an SEO drink their tea? They serrrrrp it. 
• How do SEOs cut their hair? They snippet. 
• What kind of music do SEOs like to listen to? Heavy meta.

jordan.walman

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

Social media metrics like engagement, reach, audience growth, and many others are essential for measuring and improving the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. They are relevant to all outcomes, whether you’re generating new customers, deepening engagement with your existing followers, or simply building brand awareness. 

What’s more, social media metrics allow you to demonstrate a clear return on investment (ROI) from social media spend. Great for justifying your expenditure to pesky upper management, right? 

The world’s most popular platform, Facebook, had 2.9 billion monthly users at the end of 2021. It’s understandable why businesses of all shapes and sizes are eager to take advantage of this vast source of potential traffic, leads and customers. 

Let’s look at the most important social media metrics and how you can use them to drive tangible results for your company. 

Why Are Social Media Metrics Important 

Social media metrics allow organizations to measure the success of their overall social media marketing strategy.

With a suitable collection of metrics, it’s possible to track fans and followers as they turn into subscribers, customers, repeat customers, advocates, and so on. Metrics enable you to tie user actions to specific stages of your sales funnel and equally important, to identify parts of your customer journey that require attention due to high levels of abandonment. 

Social media metrics are also vital when it comes to making improvements to specific campaigns. They provide valuable insights about your content, audience and potential clients, all of which can be used to make incremental changes and optimizations. 

Biggest Social Media Networks by Number of Users

Here’s an overview of the largest social networks by users, as reported by Statista at the beginning of 2022:

• Facebook - 2,910 million
• YouTube - 2,562 million
• WhatsApp - 2,000 million
• Instagram - 1,478 million
• TikTok - 1000 million
• LinkedIn - 810 million

10 Social Media Metrics That Matter: An Overview

There are dozens of social media metrics. Unfortunately, trying to incorporate every single one into your analytics strategy will do little more than give you a headache.

It’s important to track the metrics that are most relevant to your business goals. Some of these metrics will be available directly from social media analytics platforms, while others will require you to configure your tracking software. 

1. Engagement - Engagement is calculated by dividing the total number of meaningful audience actions (likes, comments, shares, etc.) by the total number of impressions. You can calculate this metric at both a granular level (for individual pieces of content) and a general one (for all the content associated with a campaign). 

2. Brand awareness - Generally speaking, “brand awareness” is measured by tracking the number of mentions that your brand receives over a period of time. It is possible to correlate social media activity with general brand awareness and thus gain insights into the effectiveness of a particular campaign.

3. Audience growth - Like engagement, audience growth is calculated at both a platform-specific granular level and in terms of all social media accounts. It is a measure of the number of new followers that you gained over a week, month, or quarter relative to the previous period. 

4. Content reach - “Post reach” is a standard metric that should be available from your social platforms’ analytics dashboards. It refers to the number of people that have seen a piece of content. It is useful because it helps you determine when to publish content to achieve maximum exposure. 

5. Share of voice (SoV) - Share of voice is a similar metric to brand awareness but measures how much exposure your brand is receiving compared to your competitors. It is calculated by tracking the brand mentions of several companies over a period of time and applying a percentage value to the proportion of attention they receive. 

6. Click-through rate (CTR) - Click-through rate is a well-known metric used to gauge the effectiveness of both organic content and ads. It refers to the percentage of people that interact with your content by clicking a link and tells you whether or not your call to action (CTA) is effective. CTR is important for determining your ROI on ad spend. 

7. Cost-per-click (CPC) - Cost-per-click represents the average amount you pay for a click on an ad. Like CTR, when you have a clear understanding of the cost-per-click for paid ads, you can use it to calculate higher-level metrics like cost per lead and client acquisition cost. 

8. On-site bounce rate - Your on-site bounce rate of traffic arriving on your site through social media is important because it allows you to gauge the effectiveness of your landing pages. You might have the most impressive social media strategy of all your competitors. But if your landing pages are subpar, you’re needlessly throwing away traffic.

9. Influencer score - An influencer score tells you how popular you are on a particular platform. It is a useful general indicator of your relative reach and prominence over time. Influencer scores are generated using proprietary algorithms by companies like Klear. 

10. Return on investment (ROI) -  Your overall return on investment (ROI) is ultimately the single best barometer of the effectiveness of a social media campaign. ROI is relatively easy to track for paid campaigns. However, it is also possible to calculate ROI for “organic” activities by linking content spend to engagement, site traffic and leads. 

How to Execute a Data-Driven Social Media Campaign: 

Building a successful social media campaign is a sequential process. Once you have determined your goals and picked corresponding metrics to measure your progress, you can start thinking about content. 

Follow the steps below to execute a social media campaign: 

1. Set out concrete, measurable goals - Are you aiming for brand awareness? New leads? Long-term customers? Be specific about the outcomes you are seeking.

2. Link marketing activities to specific stages of your sales funnel - Who are you targeting? A campaign that retargets existing customers will look very different from one designed to elicit interest from users new to your brand. 

3. Evaluate existing content based on audience engagement data - Existing content that has generated high levels of engagement should act as a guide for your new content. 

4. Update and create shareable, on-topic content - Ensure that your content creation processes account for evidence-based principles that lead to greater shareability and virality. 

5. Set up your tracking infrastructure - Some metrics will be available from within the dashboard of the social media platform you are using. Others will only be accessible in third-party analytics tools. Ensure that your tech stack is complete before you start publishing content. 

6. Review and refine going forward - The difference between a novice content marketer and a veteran one lies in their respective abilities to optimize their strategies through ongoing testing. The review and refine process should occur during a campaign, not once it has finished. 

So there you have it! All the ingredients to cook up a hard-hitting, lead-driving, revenue-generating social media campaign. 

Interested in learning more about social media? Check out some of the in-depth articles from BrightEdge listed below. 

Related Resources From BrightEdge

• SEO for Social Media: How to Use Them Together to Drive Leads - How to create a strategy that combines social media with SEO

• 7 Steps to Using a Social Media Marketing Strategy to Drive Success - A deeper dive into creating a successful social media strategy

jordan.walman

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

NAP is an acronym that stands for “Name, Address and Phone Number.” It’s a core concept in search engine optimization because Google uses NAP when ranking local results. 

If you operate a local business, either in the form of an independent outlet or a chain of local branches, it’s essential that your website and business profile are NAP-optimized. Failure to do so will result in lost rankings, traffic, and customers. 

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about NAP. We’ll define key terms, explain why NAP is important within the broader field of SEO, and show you how to optimize for NAP. 

What Is NAP?

In an SEO context, NAP refers to the information that local businesses include in their various listings across the web. If NAP references are consistent across different sources, Google knows that they are correct and can confidently display a company’s details to searchers. 

What Are Citations?

To leverage NAP ranking factors fully, it’s necessary to understand how the broader search process works. Local search results – also called the “Local Pack” – are shown in a dedicated section before generic search results. A map is displayed above local business listings. 

Google first determines if a keyword has geographical or “local” intent. That is, if the searcher is looking for a result tied to a particular location, such as a hair salon or bookshop. This is known as “geo-targeting.”

Google then algorithmically ranks business profiles in local results according to a range of local factors. These include keywords in an organization's Google Business Profile, past customer reviews, the user’s IP location, and NAP citations.

A citation is a business listing published on a third-party site. Nation-wide and global business directories like Yelp have extensive collections of business entries. But local online publications are also taken into account. 

Why Is NAP Important for Local SEO?

Google looks at two NAP-related factors (among a myriad of other ranking elements) when determining where to rank a local business: the number of citations and their consistency. Having a large number of consistent citations across the web is the ideal outcome from an SEO perspective. 

If Google finds discrepancies in data when comparing different sites and business listings, it can’t be sure of the information it displays to searchers. 

It’s also worth keeping in mind that NAP consistency is important from a user experience perspective. Customers often use third-party sites to check a company’s name, address, and phone number. A lack of consistency across listings creates confusion and interrupts the buyer journey. 

What Are the Consequences of Poorly Optimized NAP Listings?

Consumer behavior data shows that a typical customer will interact with a business across multiple online touchpoints—including its Google Business Profile, Google Maps, its company website, and third-party directories—before making an in-store purchase. 

To successfully complete their journey, a customer requires access to consistent information across all touchpoints. 

For example, let’s say an internet browser encounters your brand through an ad on a website. They then use Google Maps to check the location of the nearest store before visiting your website to browse products. 

Finally, they decide to visit your store to make a purchase, checking the address in your business listing in Yelp. If the addresses displayed in Google Maps and Yelp don’t match up, it is more difficult for the customer to make a purchase. This increases the likelihood that they will lose confidence, abandon the customer journey or report a low level of satisfaction. 

How to Optimize NAP for SEO:
A 5-Step Guide

Optimizing NAP information for SEO is both a straightforward and ongoing process. It’s important to ensure that current citations and new citations are correct and up-to-date. 

Take the following steps to optimize your NAP details for search:

1. Display information clearly and correctly on your “personal assets” 

First, check NAP information is visible and free of errors on your website and Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business).

Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to determine which Schema.org markup to use. 

2. Ensure that NAP citations are consistent across the web 

Google cross-references NAP citations on different websites, so ensure consistency across sources as best you can.

In particular, check popular business directories like Yelp, Yahoo Business Listings, Facebook, and so on, along with local listings in your area. Numerous tools can help to find your listings across the web.

3. Continue to add your business to directories 

NAP consistency is a key ranking factor. But it’s also essential to think about citation quantity. Continue to add your business to established directories to increase the number of citations around the web. This strategy will positively impact your local rankings. 

4. Follow best local SEO practices for multiple locations

If you manage multiple locations, follow best practices for local SEO, with separate site pages for each store and unique business profiles. 

5. Remember to update all listings if your NAP changes 

If you change your company’s name, address, or phone number, modify all listings across the web. Keep an up-to-date database of listings to streamline the process of updating NAP details. 

6. Avoid using different numbers for tracking purposes 

Sometimes, businesses will use unique phone numbers to track traffic from different directories. This approach is best avoided as it can result in Google treating each listing as a separate location. 

Related Resources from BrightEdge

• Optimizing for the Google 3-Pack
• New Features and Resources from Google Put a Spotlight on Local News
• Google Algorithm Update Recalibrates Local Search

andrew.riker

M Posted 4 years 1 month ago

t 9 min read

At its international developer conference, Google I/O, in 2014, Google called for “HTTPS everywhere.” The push for a secure web sits at the heart of Google’s philosophy and directly impacts its search algorithm. 

As a search engine optimizer, it’s imperative to understand the difference between HTTP and HTTPS, along with how the protocol underlying both works and how to create your site in line with best HTTPS practices. By doing so, you are set up for the secure transfer of data, fostering user trust, and achieving the highest possible rankings for your site. 

What are HTTP, HTTPS, SLS, TLS and HSTS?

The abbreviations HTTP, HTTPS, SSL, TLS, and HSTS all refer to different aspects of the same technology. Understanding how they function and overlap will ensure that you can use them effectively when optimizing your website. 

Here are brief definitions of each of the terms:

HTTP - HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is an internet communication, or “application layer” protocol that enables the transfer of information between connected devices. In non-tech terms, HTTP is essentially the set of rules that computers on the internet follow to communicate with each other. Whenever you visit a website, your browser retrieves information from a host server using HTTP. There was, however, one significant downside to HTTP. When you use standard HTTP to send information, like bank details or a personal address, to a website, you do so in plain text. As a consequence, anybody that intercepts your connection could access your data. 

HTTPS - HTTPS is an abbreviation for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It is based on the same underlying technology as HTTP but adds several layers of security that protect information during transit: encryption, data integrity, and authentication. HTTPS represents an important innovation because it acts as a safeguard for internet browsers against data theft. 

SSL and TLS - HTTPS relies on secure socket layers (SSL) certificates to work. In order to establish an HTTPS connection, an SSL certificate must be installed on a website. Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the modern version of SSL, although the two terms are often and incorrectly used interchangeably. TLS is the technology responsible for encrypting information prior to transit.

HSTS - HTTP Strict Transport Security is a protocol that ensures a browser retrieves an HTTPS site, even if the HTTP version is requested. It is supported alongside HTTPS and recommended by Google. 

Is HTTPS a Ranking Factor?

In a word, yes. Google has said explicitly that it takes HTTPS into account when evaluating sites. And there’s extensive documentation covering how to secure websites with HTTPS on Google Search Central. 

In fact, Google actively penalizes websites that don’t use the HTTPS protocol, as part of its broader commitment to a secure web. Importantly this also applies to mixed content. The term “mixed content” refers to secure URLs that include page elements that are delivered through HTTP and, as a result, are unsecure. 

"The future of the web is a secure one, so make sure people in your organization understand HTTPS. It should be on the roadmap." Thao Tran, Global Product Partnerships at Google, speaking at BrightEdge's SHARE16.

What Are the Drawbacks of HTTP?

Let’s take a look at the main drawbacks associated with HTTP. Investor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, outlined several security issues in 1999. 

Here is a brief overview of the main points: 

• Leakage of personal information - HTTP clients can “leak” sensitive information when interacting with other sources.
• Abuse of server log information - Interception of information about browsing activity stored on server logs can be used to identify an individual's online behavior. 
• Unsecure transfer of sensitive information - As a generic protocol, HTTP has no control over data based on its content. 
• Encoding of sensitive information in URLs - Including the source of a link in a request can potentially disclose private information. 
• Privacy issues associated with accept-request headers - The content of accept-request headers can reveal information, particularly related to location, to a server. 
• Attacks based on file and path names - Bad actors can potentially access prohibited areas of a site’s directory by navigating up the directory taxonomy via HTTP requests. 
• DNS spoofing - HTTP client reliance on the Domain Name Service (DNS) makes it possible for bad actors to mis-associate IP addresses and domain names. 
• Authentication credentials and idle web clients - HTTP provides no means of discarding cached authentication details. 
• Proxies and caching - The nature of HTTP proxies lend them to man-in-the-middle or “eavesdropping” attacks. 
• Denial of service attacks on proxies - Denial of service attacks on HTTP proxies have been documented. 

You can read more about each of these points (and others not mentioned here) by reading section fifteen of Tim Berners-Lee’s memo. 

What Are the Benefits of HTTPS?

Outside of improving the chances that your site will rank highly in Google search results, HTTPS also provides additional benefits.

HTTPS overcomes the shortcomings described above by leveraging three technologies: 

• Encryption - Data is encrypted during transit so malicious third parties can’t “listen in”
• Data integrity - Data cannot be modified during transit without detection
• Authorization - The server authenticates the user to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks

As soon as you switch your website to HTTPS, your users will automatically enjoy greater protection as a result of these security features. 

How to Switch from HTTP to HTTPS

Fortunately, switching from HTTP to HTTPS isn’t as significant an undertaking as it was a few years ago. In many cases, your web hosting service will organize the transition (if your site isn’t already using HTTPS) and renew your certificates automatically. 

Follow the six steps below to ensure a successful transition to HTTPS: 

1. Purchase an SSL/TLS certificate - An SSL certificate authenticates your website’s identity and allows for the encryption of data before transfer. 
2. Install it on your website - SSL certificates are small data files stored on your website’s server. Before you can create secure, encrypted connections, you will need to install your certificate. 
3. Ensure all internal links use HTTPS - You should ensure all internal website links use HTTPS URLs. Failure to account for remaining HTTP links can cause navigation and SEO problems. 
4. Set up 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS - 301 redirects let Google know that you have updated your site and reroute visitors using old URLs to the correct pages. 
5. Implement HTS - HTTP Strict Transport Security is a mechanism that ensures all connections to your site use HTTPS. Once you have installed your SSL certificate, implementing HTS is a straightforward process that involves adding several lines of code to the appropriate site file. 
6. Check indexation - Make sure you don’t have HTTP versions of web pages being crawled and indexed by search engines. To check this, type in “site:http://example.com” into Google search to see if any are still being indexed.

Download the Brightedge HTTP migration checklist to ensure a smooth transition from HTTP to HTTPS. Google Search Central also has extensive documentation about how to avoid common mistakes. 

Conclusion: One Piece in the SEO Puzzle

Search engine optimization can seem like a jigsaw puzzle, with lots of different pieces including technical, on/off page, content and more. Businesses take account of a myriad of ranking factors, testing approaches, leveraging best practices and weave them into an effective SEO strategy. 

HTTPS is one piece of that jigsaw puzzle. Migrating from HTTP to HTTPS is both straightforward and absolutely essential from an SEO perspective. If your site still uses HTTP, now is the time to transition to HTTPS. Once you see the increase in rankings, you’ll only wish you’d done it sooner.