For quite a few years now Google has been on a mission to help make the web a safer place. A large part of this has been to push website owners to secure their websites.
So far this has mainly been done through Search Results by showing secure websites higher than non secure websites. However, the new Chrome update (Chrome 68) will now be telling users that HTTP websites aren’t secure.
As of 24th July 2018, Chrome will mark all plain HTTP sites as Not secure. Google has given webmasters and publishers six months’ notice of this upcoming change, and now it’s live.
What does will the mean for me?
At the moment there is a small i icon next you your website URL in the Address bar if your website isn’t secure. If it is secure you have a green padlock and the word Secure.
Here is an image of the difference it will make, simply the inclusion of the term Not secure:
At the moment this doesn’t look like a big issue. However, at JKA we see this as the first step and expect Chrome (and others to follow) to start showing the dreaded red screen.
Google Chrome is a popular browser so this could have an impact on your visitors – It definitely will if they introduce the Red Screen or something similar.
We strongly recommended upgrading your website to HTTPS URLs and being secure, even if your site does not ask for payment information, logins or other private information.
If you are not secure and are looking for advice – feel free to get in touch:
Jon Seymour – 01492 460 460
jon@janklin.com
