Moz reports that the number of HTTPS results on Google’s first page has risen from 30% to 50% over a period of 9 months.
Since this has been a gradual increase with no significant jumps, Moz attributes the growth to a steady adoption of HTTPS rather than algorithm updates.
Moz corroborated its findings with Rank Ranger, which produced the same results using its tracking system. Two independent tracking systems reaching the same conclusion indicate that the data is reliable.
Dr. Pete Meyers of Moz predicts the number of HTTPS results could populate 65% of the front page of Google by the end of 2017. Despite the growing adoption rate, Google confirmed it has no plans to boost the HTTPS ranking signal.
Secure results are taking over Google’s first page, but not all major players have converted yet. Of the top 20 subdomains in the MozCast data set, these are the ones that have not yet switched to HTTPS:
– WebMD
– Allrecipes
– Target
– Food Network
– eBay
– Best Buy
– Mayo Clinic
– Home Depot
– Indeed
– Nordstrom (Shop)
That’s half of the top 20 domains which are still HTTP. Knowing that, is it worth it for site owners to make the switch if they haven’t already?
Moz suggests considering other factors beyond Google’s mild ranking benefit for HTTPS. For example, Chrome will start marking non-HTTPS pages as non-secure if they ask for passwords or credit card information.
As the adoption rate increases, Meyers believes the pressure to convert to HTTPS will increase as well. He recommends new sites adopt HTTPS immediately, as security certificates are fairly inexpensive and come with few risks. At the very least, secure any pages that collect sensitive information.
