New to the community? Start here

Nee Help Fixing URL redirects.

I’m trying to solve a couple of issues involving page redirect.

https://cdn.livechat-static.com/api/file/v2/lc/att-old/8801096/2a97b46352641093131bc84932e73623/abdulw.PNG

I’m getting an error where http: is redirecting to https: and adversely impacting my page rankings.

Thinking this might be server side, but trying to understand the best solution. Please check and help.

Tue, 21 May 2019 9:54:37
  • Adam
    • Support Gorilla

    Hello Jason

    I hope you’re well today and thank you for your question!

    I’m assuming (unfortunately, the support access doesn’t seem to be active anymore for me) that you already got WordPress properly configured to work over SSL. By this, I mean “Site Address (URL)” and “WordPress Address (URL)” options on “Settings -> General” page in site’s back-end set to start with “https://” prefix.

    If not, you would want to make sure that both of them are using “https://” prefix instead of “http://”.

    If that is already set, there’s nothing else that could and should be fixed as such redirect is perfectly normal. If the site is protected with SSL certificate (so it’s also available over “https://” URL) there are two ways it can be set: either SSL can be forced or not.

    If it’s not forced, a visitor that uses “http://domain.com” will be taken to “http://domain.com” site and will browse the site via insecure HTTP connection.

    If it is forced, a visitor that uses “http://domain.com” will be taken (redirected) to “https://domain.com” site and will browse the site via secure HTTPS connection.

    It’s recommended to force SSL if the site is protected with SSL (for security reasons) and it’s what we’re doing and what is a common practice on the web – to increase security. There’s no other way than redirect to “force” SSL for a visitor that attempts to use insecure HTTP address.

    That being said:

    – if you type just “domain.com” into the browser bar or, for that matter, GTMetrix or PageSpeed URL field – they’ll all assume you meant “http://domain.com” and they’ll try to load site over insecure HTTP connection. As explained above, they will be redirected to HTTPS connection. Hence, GTMetrix will report such redirect.

    – but if you type in full address like “https://domain.com” – there’ll be no redirect

    Take a look at the GTMetrix again please and give it a try: first, put just your domain name into the URL field (without “http://” or “https://” prefix) and run the test – YSlow will report the redirect in question. After that open the GTMetrix site again and instead use the “https://” prefix in site address – YSlow will not report that redirect anymore.

    I hope that clears up what’s happening a bit :slight_smile: Such redirect is perfectly fine and harmless and, from security perspective, it’s actually expected.

    As for SEO rankings. It’s a valid and proper redirect and shouldn’t affect anything. However, if you want to “avoid” it, the only thing that needs to be done in a long run is to make sure that the site’s sitemap uses “https://” prefixed URLs and that this sitemap is submitted to Google Search Console. Google will eventually – though it might take some time – “re-index” old “http://”-prefixed URLs replacing them with new “https://” prefixed ones.

    Kind regards,

    Adam