Updating a Site from HTTP to HTTPs

Owned by Kyle Sharrer
Last updated: Jul 03, 2023
8 min read

HTTP to HTTPs 


Summary:
This guide will assist in going through the process of transitioning a site from http to https

Complete this process the same day that we get notification via an email to seo@ for us to complete this process.

Difficulty/Time: 30-60min


Contacts: Pod Leader/Team Lead

Table of Contents

Reference



The task that lies ahead of you is not a difficult task, however, it is important that it is done correctly. Here are a few references that you will want to read before going any further into this guide. You may also need to use these pages as references while going through the process. 


  1. https://kinsta.com/blog/http-to-https/
    1. This is an in depth guide for checking everything when it comes to updating your site from http to https. This is focused on Wordpress, but it is applicable for our platform as well.
  2. https://varvy.com/tools/redirects/
    1. This is a tool that will be useful to ensure that you do not have an inadvertent redirect train.
  3. {link to Search Console documentations}
    1. This guide is just a refresher to help you set up search console for your client.
  4. {link to updating and submitting sitemap documentation}
    1. This is our guide going into more depth about submitting sitemaps to Google and Bing.
  5. {link to https information}
    1. Here is our guide on what it means to have https on your site, and why we want it.




Checking for Redirects



Most of the steps of installing the ssl certificate, including redirects, should already be taken care of. But, the first thing you are going to want to check is to make sure that there aren’t redirects that are redirecting to redirects. For this, we can use https://varvy.com/tools/redirects/ to see what kind of redirects are happening on one of your sites. If you are having issues with a ton of redirects bring it up with the accounts CS rep and inform them of the errors so that they can fix the redirect issues.


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The example above shows what you should see as far as redirects when you are running this test. 


Update internal links prt. 1 (With the Snippet Editor)



While we typically only create relative links with our internal link structure, sometimes absolute links will get mixed in over time. When we change to https we will have to go and check our site to see if any of those links exist and then update them. 


To begin this process we start with looking through the snippets and see if we can find any http absolute links. 

We only need to update on-page content that falls inline with typical seo work. Top level pages, article pages, inventory list pages, showrooms, etc. Looking at internal text, button, or image links.

  1. Go into the admin panel of your site
  2. Click DSAdmin
  3. Click Show Config
    1. Across the top of show config you are going to see several tabs.
  4. Click on the tab on the top of the page that says ‘Snippet’
  5. Press ‘ctr+f’ to pull up the find on page box in the upper right-hand corner of your browser
  6. In the search area type http://
  7. Then hit the down arrow and scan through all the entries to see if any of them are http as opposed to https.
    1. Look at the link when you find a http link and if it directs off site you can ignore it
    2. If the http link is an internal link, you will use the right-hand column to find the snippet that the link is contained in.
    3. Once you find the snippet with the link you will then want to change the link to a relative link this way it doesn't matter if the url is http or https.
      1. A relative link is a link that does not contain the domain.
        1. Absolute link will look like ‘https://www.google.com/trash-can-stuff.html’
        2. Relative link looks likes ‘/trash-can-stuff.html’
    4. If you cannot find the snippet to correct the link speak with your pod leader, and if you are still not able to correct it contact the CS rep for the account.


Update Internal Links prt.2 (Text Editor)



This is going to be a very similar process as the previous one but should go much quicker and be easier to find all the culprits. Once again we should be using relative links as opposed to absolute links. 


These instructions are being written for use with notepad++, just adapt them for your text editor of preference. 


  1. Connect to the live folder, and find your website's folder
  2. Within the folder you are going to go to the same three pages you optimize SEF urls for in the first month's work
    1. Index.asp
    2. Footer.asp
    3. Header.asp
  3. In each of these documents, you will use the find function to look for internal links that are http as opposed to https.
    1. Start off by pressing ‘ctrl+f' to open up the find tool to help you find what you are looking for on the page.
    2. In the box type http://
    3. Click find next.
    4. As you find the culprits adjust them to absolute links so long as they are internal links. Do not adjust external links
    5. Save your work

Updating stdHeaderStart.inc



When you are checking in the stdHeaderStart.inc file you are going to want to be extra careful what you do in this instance. The changes you make in the stdHeaderStart can cause a lot of issues, so make sure that you don’t change anything that shouldn’t be changed. 



  1. While you are in notepad++ and looking at your account that you are working on, go into the includes folder and double-click to open stdHeaderStart.inc file.
  2. While in the stfHeaderStart.inc file you can use ‘ctrl+f’ to find the http files.
    1. These files are not going to be internal links but external links to resources.
    2. These resources are going to include stylesheets, fonts, jquery, and other items.
    3. When you change one of the http links to an https link, save it after each one, then in a browser refresh the page to make sure it isn’t broken.
      1. Most of these links should already be taken care of.
      2. If you are unsure if link should be changed reach out to your pod leader.

Updating Google Search Console



You will need to update Google Search Console to inform that service of the change of URL. The way this is handled is by creating a whole new entry into google search console. 


You can do that by following the steps in this guide 

Do not get rid of the old property for three months!

Make sure to pay attention to the additional steps at the bottom of this guide since you will be using both entries in GSC for reporting. 

Updating Google Analytics



Updating Google Analytics is much easier and quicker than GSC. 


  1. Log into the SEO@ user in Chrome.
  2. Go to analytics
  3. In the right-hand corner of the screen, you should be able to search for the site you are working on.
  4. Once you find you find the site you are working on click into it.
  5. On the left-hand of the screen near the bottom, there is a gear icon that leads to the admin for this site.
  6. Once in the admin panel under the property, you are going to go to property settings.
  7. In the property settings you are going to adjust the default url from ‘http:’ to ‘https:’
  8. Then scroll to the bottom and click save.
  9. You are now going to do the same thing under ‘View’
  10. You are now going to need to go back to the ‘Property’ tab
  11. Under ‘Property’ go to Property Settings
  12. Scroll down to ‘Search Console’ then click ‘Adjust Search Console’ and click that button
  13. Now click where it says delete next to the old url
  14. then connect it to the new https:// version in search console.
    1. You may need to do this by finding the property in Seach Console and clicking on the site you want to connect you Analytics up to.
    2. Click the gear Icon
    3. Go into Google Analytics Property
    4. Find the https version of the site
    5. scroll completely to the bottom and click connect.

Update and submitting new sitemaps



This should be common practice to update with Search Engines on occasion, but even if you did it last month you are going to want to update it again.


  1. Generate a Sitemap
    1. Go to the admin panel of the site you are working on.
    2. Click on DSAdmin
    3. Click on Sitemap Generator
    4. Then click on Build Sitemap
    5. There will be a link on the left hand side of the page next to the image of the home page of your site. You will want to click on that link.
    6. When the new link opens, copy the url starting with ‘content’
  2. Submit your sitemap to Google
    1. Go to Search console for your website
    2. When you get to the dashboard on the far right should be a section called ‘Sitemaps’, click that and go into that panel
    3. There will be a red button on the upper right-hand corner that says ‘add/test sitemap’. Click that button and a dialog box will open.
    4. Paste your link into the dialog box that pops up and click submit.
    5. On click on the next page where it says ‘Refresh the Page’
    6. Take a look and make sure there are no errors if not, you can move on.
  3. Submit your sitemap to Bing/Yahoo
    1. This step is for only if you have already set your site up on Bing/Yahoo.
    2. Go to https://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster and sign into webmaster tools with the SEO account found in the logins document.
    3. Find the site you are looking for and click on its dashboard.
    4. Immediately in the middle on the main panel of the dashboard you are going to see a section the says ‘Sitemaps’
    5. On the right-hand side of that section, you are going to see a button that says ‘Submit a Sitemap’. Click into that.
    6. Here you will need to put in the full url of the sitemap and not just the relative link.


Updating SEOMonitor

The last thing we are going to do is update SEOmonitor to make sure that is it aware of the changes we have made to the site.


Updating SEOmonitor should not be a big task.

  1. The only action that needs to be taken care of is the Authorization of the new https GSC profile.
    1. Making sure you are in the SEO@ user in Chrome, Go to the Dashboard of SEOmonitor and find your client.
    2. Click the Gear Icon for your client on the far right side (under settings) to pull up the settings for your accoun
    3. Then where it says 'Connected Search Console' click the link that says 'Connect another GSC profile'.
    4. If a pop-up window comes up in the upper left of your screen asking you to log-in, login as Dealer Spike and then click on the Allow button when prompted.
    5. In the choose field, type your dealer's name and find the https version, then click the green connect button to connect the new GSC profile for the https version of the site.
    6. When prompted by the pop-up window if you'd like to add another account, click 'no'. Then, click 'yes' to the next question about data.

Completing Transition



After completing the process please reply to the email letting them know that you have completed your section of the work for the conversion. CC seo@ on your response email.

Additional Steps/Information



Make sure to keep the following items in mind. If you need more details on how this will work talk to you pod leader or check this guide https://kinsta.com/blog/http-to-https/. 


  • YouTube
    • If your Website has their youtube page associated with their website you will need to go and adjust their presence on youtube to make sure the proper website is setup with it.
  • Manually combine http & https impressions and clicks on reports
    • You will want to add the stats from http to the stats from https. The https will not have 90 days of data yet. You will want to do this for at least 3 months until the traffic to the http site drops completely off.
  • Pay Attention to 404 errors on both sites in GSC
    • Proper redirects should have been completed already, however we will want to make sure that it was done properly.


  1. Updating SEOMonitor