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That is a fantastic article, and good information. I appreciate the link

Hi Robin,

I just went through this and here is my $0.02...

1. You will need to basically reverse your 301 redirect, so that http redirects to https, instead of how you have it set now. This should be no problem, just update .htaccess and reverse it. If you are using Wordpress, you'll need to set your site URL in the general settings tab and go verify all the permalinks update to https. You won't get a redirect chain unless you have http pointing to https and then https pointing back to http. Just use one 301, and you should be fine.

2. I would move the whole thing at once. It'll be a lot simpler than trying to segregate which pages are http and which are https.

3. You won't need canonicals because of the 301. Google will see that you are permanently redirecting all your pages to https. Another likely canonical situation; if you have another website using an article that you published first, and they are pointing to the same article on your website as the canonical, it'll hit the redirect and not split the link juice.

4. The tracking URL's won't change, and you can verify this by logging in to Analytics and Search Console. The one thing you'll need to do in Search Console is "add a property" for the https:// and the https://www versions of your website. You'll then need to make sure you have the preferred domain selected. Then you can resubmit your sitemap.xml files and you should be good to go.

I hope this helps

I'm wondering what version of my website I need to use on Google My Business and link building etc.. I have setup https and am using a 301 redirect for all http traffic. My question now is, do I need to go to all of my current citations/links and update them to https?

I would think the citations/links in-place will hit the 301 and it won't matter what I set. Duplicate content isn't a problem since the canonical version of the page is https.

I can't get a clear answer on the web and can't find anything on Google's site that suggests one way or the other. I'd just like to have some feedback from my fellow Moziopians

-fencepencil

Hi Robin,

I just went through this and here is my $0.02...

1. You will need to basically reverse your 301 redirect, so that http redirects to https, instead of how you have it set now. This should be no problem, just update .htaccess and reverse it. If you are using Wordpress, you'll need to set your site URL in the general settings tab and go verify all the permalinks update to https. You won't get a redirect chain unless you have http pointing to https and then https pointing back to http. Just use one 301, and you should be fine.

2. I would move the whole thing at once. It'll be a lot simpler than trying to segregate which pages are http and which are https.

3. You won't need canonicals because of the 301. Google will see that you are permanently redirecting all your pages to https. Another likely canonical situation; if you have another website using an article that you published first, and they are pointing to the same article on your website as the canonical, it'll hit the redirect and not split the link juice.

4. The tracking URL's won't change, and you can verify this by logging in to Analytics and Search Console. The one thing you'll need to do in Search Console is "add a property" for the https:// and the https://www versions of your website. You'll then need to make sure you have the preferred domain selected. Then you can resubmit your sitemap.xml files and you should be good to go.

I hope this helps

I'm wondering what version of my website I need to use on Google My Business and link building etc.. I have setup https and am using a 301 redirect for all http traffic. My question now is, do I need to go to all of my current citations/links and update them to https?

I would think the citations/links in-place will hit the 301 and it won't matter what I set. Duplicate content isn't a problem since the canonical version of the page is https.

I can't get a clear answer on the web and can't find anything on Google's site that suggests one way or the other. I'd just like to have some feedback from my fellow Moziopians

-fencepencil

That is a fantastic article, and good information. I appreciate the link