Installing SSL on old site - URLs will change to https

[curioustoddler]

We need to install SSL on one old site which has lots of pages indexed and ranking well. But with SSL URLs will change to https from http. I am not sure how google and other search engines will treat this.

[tedster]

Creating new URLs means that the content's ranking would start from zero - the protocol is part of the URL.

I'd only place the https: on the necessary URLs, and then be very careful that only one version of the URL can be indexed.

[curioustoddler]

Thanks. So we should avoid switching all site to SSL and rather use it when user needs and need to be assured of security.

[tedster]

IMO, absolutely yes. For one thing, using SSL introduces latency that will cause the page to load more slowly for your visitors. And then, as you originally brought up, there's the whole issue of sacrificing rankings.

[tessmac]

Tedster

Just on this topic...

G has indexed duplicate https pages for all our pages. In some cases like the index page, the PR is split between the 2 urls, but in others, the https page caries the PR. We have put a robots txt file for ssl in htaccess now to resolve this, but is it absolutely necessary to do a 301 redirect on all the pages to redirect to http, as this is causing us a problem trying to do this.

[tedster]

If there are backlinks that point to the https versions of your URLs, then you will lose any value or link juice from those links unless you redirect.

Is the 301 absolutely necessary? No - you can also contact those websites and request that they make a change. But unless you do the redirect, you will probably continue to accumulate more incorrect backlinks that don't help you rank. People will just copy/paste from their address bar, you know?

[aakk9999]

is it absolutely necessary to do a 301 redirect on all the pages to redirect to http, as this is causing us a problem trying to do this

I think this is a perfect place to use canonical, with the full URL, including "http://" part, eg,

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com...etc" />

[bwnbwn]

tessmac you can't 301 a https to the http as this will break the ss and your https pages won't work in the cart or whatever place the https is used.
I suggest moving the https out from under the domain and use a subdomain for the secure area.
[example...]

After the https has been removed from the root then you can 301 the https to the correct url.
[example.com...] 301 to http://www.example.com/article/example.htm

curioustoddler I suggest you do the same and put the SS under a subdomain for the secure area and don't mess with the ranking urls.

[tedster]

Good advice. The best thing to do is to set up secure.example.com for the cert. This also keeps you from tangling up protocols on any links those secure pages might hold.