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Google Begins Sending Warnings for SSL Certificate Issues

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gsc ssl certificate issuesGoogle is now sending out warning letters to webmasters when they have an issue with the secure certificate on their site.

Here is what the warning looks like:

gsc ssl mismatchThe new warning letter has [ WNC-60700 ] for an issue number.

This seems to be one of multiple types of warning letters for SSL issues, although we don’t know what other issues are triggering letters yet.  This warning was specifically for the domain name not being included in the certificate.

I will update when I have more clarification on other SSL issues, but no one seems to have reported publicly receiving any yet. [Update below]

I do wonder if they will begin sending warning letters when there are non-secure elements on a page, as Google Chrome recently added a feature that would alert users when a supposed secure site is still displaying unsecure elements.  This is often in the form of third-party tools, images and buttons, but it does make a site not truly secure when it happens.

Casey Markee was the first to report on the new warning letter.

It is unclear if these sites lose their HTTPS ranking boost as a result of the issues or not.  But since the boost is really more of a tie breaker, it shouldn’t cause ranking issues for any site strictly for losing the boost.

There have been issues with some people not setting up their secure certificates correctly so hopefully these new warnings will bring to light any issues webmasters might have, especially has the HTTPS ranking boost let to many webmasters implementing secure certificates for the first time.

Update:

We have some more information on some of the other SSL related warnings.  They include expired certificates, wrong date, invalid and incorrect settings.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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Comments

  1. For clarification purposes, the other examples that @Missiz_Z references above can all be traced to the “Common pitfalls in using HTTPS/TLS” box located on the “Secure your Site with HTTPS” best practices page with Google here:

    https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6073543?hl=en

    As already pointed out by Glenn Gabe, it’s my belief as well that this console warning is just the FIRST of many new SSL/TLS warning messages all of which would line up with the ten pitfalls represented on the above page.

    I would make it a point to add the above triggers into any SSL auditing you already do at your end for your clients now and in the future.

    I know I will.