Just made my site HTTPS what do I do now in Search Console?

[Broaster]

So far I asked my service provider to change my website to HTTPS for me, they did it and also created redirect for me so I ddint need to use a word press plug in

Now I am confused on the next steps, So far my website domain property is listed with the full address http://www.example.com

I was told to add a new domain property with just Website.com but then someone else told me to just add a prefix with the HTTPS version of my site.

this is where I am confused

also I was told to remove the old HTTP sitemap yet there is no option to delete that sitemap or at least I cant find any

What do I do please its confusing.




[edited by: not2easy at 5:18 am (utc) on Oct 28, 2020]

[edited by: engine at 3:25 pm (utc) on Oct 28, 2020]
[edit reason] exemplified for readability and specifics [/edit]

[not2easy]

You just need to add the "new site" in your GSC account. You can leave the old version there too but yes you should remove the old sitemaps. They don't make it easy, but when you go to your GSC account to add the new site, you can see the old site there and delete the old sitemaps. If I recall correctly they can be found in the left sidebar near the bottom.

When you add the new site be sure it matches the settings in your Settings > General panel for WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL).

Be sure to update your robots.txt file if you had listed your old sitemaps there also.

[Broaster]

Its all so confusing Before it was easy to migrate now they make it so confusing

When you say add the HTTPS version, I saw one guy said in domain property just add your website without anything in the front just WEBSITE.com no https or www., and that will pick up all the http, https, www versions of your site

Im so confused now, they dont even have a walk through or step by step instructions.

[not2easy]

They do have step by step procedures: [support.google.com...]

On that page, scroll down a bit to "Migrating from HTTP–>HTTPS" and you'll see:

Be sure to add the HTTPS property to Search Console. Search Console treats HTTP and HTTPS separately; data for these properties is not shared in Search Console. So if you have pages in both protocols, you must have a separate Search Console property for each one.

Ignore the domain only idea because Google views http://www.example.com as a different domain from http://example.com and https://www.example.com and https://www.example.com - to them those are four different domains.

[phranque]

Google views http://www.example.com as a different domain from http://example.com and https://www.example.com and https://www.example.com - to them those are four different domains.

you should be tracking all 4 of these properties in GSC so you can insure you&google are seeing what is expected for each.

[Broaster]

@Not2easy
So do I add the HTTPS version in the Domain Property or in the Prefix? Thats my main confusion how to add it. I also am not able to remove the http my old sitemap from google search console Im trying hard to find that option.


[storage.googleapis.com...]

[not2easy]

No, you add it as if it were a new domain. You do not alter the version that is already listed in GSC, you just add the "new" one. I see what you mean about how confusing it has become, but for Google this is not a subdomain of the non-https site you already have listed there.

[Broaster]

thanks @not2easy
So basically just add my HTTPS version as a new domain property not a prefix.
Now when adding the domain property what is the proper way should I add the HTTPS: WWW. mywebsite.com or just go with HTTPS: mywebsite.com with no WWW.

Also since My old HTTP website must remain, but how do I remove the sitemap? I was told to remove the sitemap from the old site but I can't find that option its so confusing now.

[not2easy]

As mentioned in my first post in this thread:

When you add the new site be sure it matches the settings in your Settings > General panel for WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL).

If you log in to your site's Admin and go to Settings > General panel and see that it is using https://www.example.com/ then that is what you use to add the new site in GSC. Since your site is WordPress, it will default to what is entered in the Settings.

When you are logged in at GSC you should be able to selct the old version of your domain and use their menu to deal with your old sitemaps. As long as the new version has an updated robots.txt file showing your sitemaps as "https:" they will find them automatically when the try to crawl the old domain. I recall having difficulty finding where to deal with old sitemaps, but look in the upper right corner for a 'hamburger' style menu where - if I recall correctly - they list legacy tools.

[Broaster]

Thanks
Right now when I publish my articles they still appear in search and google news but lost ranking in google news. I have yet to update or add my https to GSC or google news publisher.

Robots.txt is something I forgot about, Im so clueless on this stuff, I just use a sitemap plug in, so I can change my robots.txt or submit a new one when I update to HTTPS in GSC correct?

also how come they say do not remove the old HTTP domain?

[not2easy]

Why should you keep the old domain in GSC? It can help you to have the old domain in GSC because you can watch the "new" https site's pages indexed increase as they are decreased on the old one. It can help you find any old forgotten content. It also helps Google know that any old backlinks to the http: version will now belong to the same account.

You are not required to have a robots.txt file, but if you don't have one, then all files are crawled. A robots.txt file helps you list any files you do or do not want Google to crawl. IF you have a robots.txt file, Google looks there for the links to the URL where your sitemaps are found. This speeds up crawling because there are multiple possibilities for the filenames of sitemaps. If you list them at the end of your robots.txt file, they find them right away.

The format for listing them is:

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.txt
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap_index.xml

(depending on the actual name and location of the files)

[phranque]

also how come they say do not remove the old HTTP domain?

you should be tracking all 4 of these properties in GSC so you can insure you&google are seeing what is expected for each.

in other words, you should see diminishing urls being indexed on the http hostname and increasing numbers in the https domain.
over time, the http property should remain at or near no information and the https property should have everything.

[Broaster]

Okay I just tried to add my website to Domain property https:// example.com/ in that format but it won't let me add it

I already have the HTTP version of my website as my main domain property but I can only enter my website without the HTTPS or WWW in the domain property add , now on URL prefix it shows you can add HTTPS

Im guessing just to add Example.com on domain property or do I just add my HTTPS version to Prefix

[jediviper]

A question about different domains and sitemaps in GSC.
So if you keep both http and https versions of a domain, should also have 2 sitemaps uploaded?
Or it's not needed?

[Broaster]

It wont let me add the https version of my site on domain property you cant add anyting its only example.com, but on url prefix you can add the https version. im still confused on what to do.

my main site from ten years is listed as HTTPs:www.exampl.com

[phranque]

from the Google Search Console Help page [support.google.com]:

If your site supports multiple protocols (http and https), you must add a separate property for each protocol. Similarly, if you support multiple subdomains (such as example.com, m.example.com, and www.example.com) you must add a separate property for each subdomain.

also:

www is ignored. If you add www to your property name, the www will be ignored. For example, if you specify www.example.com as your property URL, the property will be created as example.com

Coverage

A Domain property aggregates data for all subdomains, protocols, and subpaths of the property. For example, if you define a Domain property as "example.com", the data includes example.com, any subdomains of example.com (for example, m.example.com, support.m.example.com, www.example.com, and so on), and any subpaths of any of those domains, on http, https, and ftp.

[Broaster]

Phranque
So basically just add the example.com domain property and it will cover all http and https?

So what do I do if my main site is listed as http?
Just ad the domain property of example.com

so should I deleted my http if I do this or just leave it?

[phranque]

So basically just add the example.com domain property and it will cover all http and https?

you must add a separate property for each protocol

so should I deleted my http if I do this or just leave it?

Google views http://www.example.com as a different domain from http://example.com and https://www.example.com and https://www.example.com - to them those are four different domains.

you should be tracking all 4 of these properties in GSC so you can insure you&google are seeing what is expected for each.