Google to Reward HTTPS Sites With Better Search Rankings

Google will now give higher search rankings to websites which are encrypted (Using HTTPS). The new policy comes as part of an effort to push web developers towards establishing more secure practises .

Google has already taken steps to make its own services more secure in the last few years, such as introducing an encrypted search and setting an HTTPS connection as the default for Gmail.It is said that Google Inc wants to encourage this across the industry, and will attempt to boost the use by rewarding adopters

According to Google’s official blog, the new HTTPS ranking signal, will be relatively small, affecting less than one percent of global searches and carrying less weight than other signals such as content, but Google noted that it may strengthen the HTTPS ranking signal in the future.However, Google will also be providing resources to help developers secure their sites. It will be publishing a series of articles in the upcoming weeks on how to make the transition, and it has also provided tools to test security

With this new development, Google hopes to pressure other web developers to take this same approach.