Google introduces HTTPS as a search ranking signal

Google has taken the next stage in its push for “HTTPS everywhere” by announcing that it now uses HTTPS as a ranking signal in its search ranking algorithms.

Although Google says that the primary concerns are regarding security and enhanced performance and that currently HTTPS is currently only regarded as a “lightweight” signal it seems fairly obvious that at some point in the future it could become a heavyweight ranking factor as low quality web sites and affiliate marketing style sites are unlikely to go to the additional expense of having an SSL certificate.

So we can see that if goole chooses, at some point they could choose to filter search results aggressively using HTTPS as a primary signal.

For googles own take on this please view their own announcement using the link below.

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html