Google announced that usage of HTTPS protocol (that utilizes data encryption and for that reason is more secure than regular HTTP) would be considered by the search engine as one of the criteria to push the resource forward to the top of search results. Indexation and promotion of this sort have been tested for the last few weeks and the results have been positive.
Google highlights that usage of HTTPS for now is secondary: it is carrying less weight in determining the place of a resource is search results than, say, weight of quality content. However, the corporation does not rule out the option that it might become very significant in the future. For now it can be applied to less than 1% of all queries, processed by the search engine, however Google believes that taking this step will strengthen security of the whole global network and assist in popularity growth of HTTPS protocol.
Marina Nikerova, senior deputy director at Technical Center of Internet, commented on this initiative of Google: “Usage of https secure connection is an evident trend, the share of encrypted traffic will constantly grow. Secure connection more often than not means usage of SSL-certificate, that allows not only encrypting the traffic but also making sure that the resource is real, not phishing. Google’s initiative will allow trusted sources to get the most of the users and decrease possibility of online fraud.”
