Google Chrome to Flag Sites as Not Secure in July 2018

Google has been warning site owners that Google Chrome will begin flagging sites as being “not secure” in a future version of Chrome.  And now we know when it will officially begin.

Google posted today and both the Google Security Blog and the Chromium Blog that beginning in July 2018, sites that are not HTTPS will show as “Not secure” in the URL field.

Here is how it will appear:

This is different from an update in 2016 that showed the HTTP warning would be highlighted in red, but could still be coming in a future update:

There has been no change to the HTTPS ranking boost, but sites that are HTTPS do get a slight increase in their search rankings.  This boost is generally only enough to serve as a tiebreaker when sites would rank in the same position otherwise.

Google also started sending out security warnings via Google Search Console for sites that are not HTTPS and had forms that were insecure last August and I wouldn’t be surprised to see another round of these going out with the updated with the new update that all sites that are still HTTP as being flagged in Chrome.

For those still needing to transition to HTTPS, Google has help documents for site owners.

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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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