HTTPS/SSL ? Whole site or just the checkout?

[Becothy]

I have SSL enabled on the "Recommended" Checkout only option. However reading this Google Online Security Blog it seems to lean towards the entire site being HTTPS/SSL encrypted. Especially for SEO purposes.

Should I change the option to the entire site? What are the drawbacks and benefits?

[Starworshipper · Accepted solution]

A few of the drawbacks on our end regarding SSL on the 'Whole Site' would be the 'Document' element not displaying on the SSL secured website, a few other third party elements can sometimes not display as well, as the 'Sitewide SSL' is only allowing secured content to come through.

I'd personally recommend using 'Store Only' for the website and then using something like our 'McAfee' app that displays a badge indicating your page is secure. It gives your visitors a nice sense of verified security, and doesn't affect site performance in any way.

You can see what that McAfee App looks like here (Near the bottom right): http://mattdthemetestsecure.weebly.com/

[Becothy]

Thanks for the swift reply. Makes sense. I'll leave it just as the shop!

[claudiawilliams]

How does one add the McAfee button? Is it offered on Weebly?

[Robin12]

Yes, it is offered in our App Center. You can access it once logged in via the following link http://www.weebly.com/app-center/mcafee-secure

Otherwise, once logged in click the Apps button at the top left of your editor. Choose App center. Once there scroll down to the eCommerce section. If you don't see the McAfee block immediately click the blue 'More" link next to that section to locate the app. You will see a blue 'Add' button on the app's page. Click that to install it on your Weebly site. Then follow the steps to get setup. 

Please remember you will need to upgrade to our business subscription and enable SSL before your McAfee button will work. 

Note: The App center is not currently available for the designer platform or education accounts at the moment. This is something we are working on for the future. 

[Heirloom_Angel]

When I first began my site, I too was unsure of which direction to go.  I actually switched it over to the whole site at one point and ended up with a 'whole lot' of issues on my blog because of it.  I changed it back to checkout only and the issues disappeared.  😃

[newyorkave]

I would recommend treading carefully here.

SEO can be greatly impacted by a domain structure change (e.g. going from 'http' to 'https'). Thankfully, when using the SSL option via Weebly, they automatically update the URLs in the auto-generated sitemap (yoursite.com/sitemap.xml). But, you'll still need to create a new property within Google's Search Console with the new URL structure and resubmit your sitemap. After you do that, make sure to tell Google to prefer this URL structure.

Whole site SSL is always going to be a tiny tiny tiny tiny bit better than not having it (Google updated their algorythm recently to prefer this, read about it by clicking here), but you have to take the right steps and make sure you connect all the dots otherwise Google might get confused, and when Google gets confused...you lose.

Hope this helps.

[Wayne4]

Thanks for your comment. How do you tell google to prefer the new site structure please?