Does SSL or https: protocol hurt SEO

[raygunray]

Due to the sensitive bank account info my company site handles, every link inside the site is set to [website.com...] HOwever, we fear this may be hurting our SEO efforts. Does it?

We have no server side access because we use a prorpiretary ecommerce site and no server side scripts are allowed.

[tedster]

Hello raygunray, and welcome to the forums.

No, in my experience the https: protocol does not affect search engine ranking.

[raygunray]

Thanks a lot. I tried to find a straigt answer and couldn't get one.

I'm using Monster Commerce and its killing us in the rankings. It's like Raid for spider bots - a brick wall.

Also, they don't allow Google sitemaps.

[WiseWebDude]

Yes, it CAN cause a duplicate content penalty. http://www.example.com and [example.com...] are the same thing. So, IF your site shows up both ways you have a duplicate of each page. IF your site will NOT show up both ways, you are ok then.

[tedster]

When you use any 3rd party ecommerce solution, it can limit your options. Monster Commerce used to be very focused on improving SEO options for their clients. I haven't checked them out recently - not since Network Solutions bought them.

Study up in our Hot Topics area [webmasterworld.com], which is always pinned to the top of this forum's index page, and learn what you need. If the hosting solution you are using doesn't give you some important flexibility, then I suggest moving on to a service that does.

Does your SSL use your own certificate? I'm not a fan of the "shared certificate" option.

[raygunray]

its has been doing that. I can't modify any .htaccess files so I cant get it to redirect to https: or anything. I guess I have to go into webmaster tools and eliminate some http pages

[raygunray]

Monster Commerce is upgrading to its 7.0 version which is supposed to resolve SEO issues as well as some usability problems. I do like many of the features and it seems to be the most flexible out there.

We own our own certficate. Also, we are shopping for an eCommerce solution that is less expensive but that is a topic for another thread.

[edited by: tedster at 11:14 pm (utc) on Mar. 4, 2008]

[Hissingsid]

Yes, it CAN cause a duplicate content penalty. http://www.example.com and [example.com...] are the same thing. So, IF your site shows up both ways you have a duplicate of each page. IF your site will NOT show up both ways, you are ok then.

How can you tell if you have this penalty?

I would have thought that http and https should not lead to a duplicate content penalty https is simply http using ssl. It is a protocol and FWIW I don't see why you shouldn't offer your users the choice of http or https. Having said that Yahoo definitely does treat http://www.example.com as a different sub-domain to [example.com....] What is not clear is if this leads to a penalty and if so why.

Cheers

Sid

[raygunray]

I did a site: url check and there weren't many sites indexed under http:// so don't think its a problem.

I've gone through the html side of the site and turned all links into inline links with the https:// included. I just want some cosistentcy. Also, I've used google webmaster tools to remove dead links in the cache.

[WiseWebDude]

Yes, Google DOES index https and http. Watch out that your competitors don't link to you that way (use absolute, not relative links internally as well) or Google will start putting them in there. Try site:example.com in Google search and that should show you if there are any indexed in Google as https. It happened to us so we had to make a different robots.txt file for both because we use Windows Server. We caught it AS it was happening and got to it pretty fast so they only had about 100 https indexed. Phew, close call! And, the penalty would be a duplicate content penalty...

[edited by: WiseWebDude at 9:44 pm (utc) on Mar. 5, 2008]

[Robert Charlton]

I can't modify any .htaccess files so I cant get it to redirect to https: or anything.

I think it would be wise to consider changing servers and getting things set up properly.

Google Webmaster Tools is not the way to fix this kind of problem. It's only a way of controlling how Google indexes you. You might still show up under both http and https to visitors. Under the setup you're suggesting, without the proper redirects, links to http will most likely just be wasted as far as any ranking boost.

[fishfinger]

Yes, Google DOES index https and http

They certainly do - seen this on more than one site before.

Due to the sensitive bank account info my company site handles, every link inside the site is set to [website.com...]
You mean that people are entering/seeing financial information on the whole site - not just when they come to checkout?

[WiseWebDude]

I agree with Robert...Monster Commerce is NOT a good setup at all. I have a friend who tried it so I got to mess with it a bit and it was a MESS. He canceled it within a week, got his money back and set it up properly like I told him to do in the first place, LOL. Now he's doing fine because he has control over what he HAS to have control over. Monster Commerce is ridiculously high for not being able to do what you need to do with it...just MHO.

:)