Google has announced that in just a couple of short months Chrome will start showing security warnings on HTTP sites that have any text input fields in them.
Breaking it Down: What Does That Mean, Exactly?
If you have a blog that can be commented on, a newsletter sign up form on your website, members only content that requires a login – anything that is interactive with your users and has an field where people type into on your website will show a warning that it is “NOT SECURE” starting October 1, 2017.
BOTTOM LINE: This WILL effect the users ability to access your website!
Google is the first web browser to jump on board with this, and has been marking login forms, certain websites and credit card forms not secure for a while, but, there was a story earlier this year where Firefox reported already showing these warnings on un-encrypted login pages.
These safety precautions are all steps to ensure a better, secure, internet environment for all users moving forward; making it harder for cyber criminals to intercept information over the web.
These are just the first steps, with websites having forms being the first to be flagged. However, it is the goal to have ALL websites eventually go to HTTPS (sooner than later).
This goal may be closer than you think. We had a client’s entire blog site blocked from being shown at all to users in Europe just last week because it was not an HTTPS site and deemed “NOT SECURE”. This is taking it a step further from just a warning in an input field – the whole site was marked not secure and was not shown to the user at all.
What does this mean for you?
If you are the owner or manager or a website, this affects you, and your website needs to be secure. You can secure your site and prevent these “NOT SECURE” warnings by moving your site to HTTPS. This is done by installing an SSL Certificate.
We did a blog post a while back on how you can get a free SSL certificate From Let’s Encrypt and the benefits that comes with them (I’ll give you a hint: Search Engines love SSL Certificates and your SEO will thank you!).
Starting today, April 21, 2015 Google will be making a HUGE algorithm change that will affect all mobile searches.
The change will only take about a week to complete and is so significant that April 21st is being referred to by several names including mobilegeddon, mobilepocalyse, mopocalypse or mobocalypse!
The best way to ensure your site won’t be affected, is to make your site Responsive. Responsive design is the process of creating a single web site that has the ability to adjust its layout, based on the size and orientation of the users display as well as the browser it is being viewed on. Simply meaning, your website “responds” to the device it’s being displayed on for optimal viewing.