According to Search Engine Land, if you haven’t already transitioned your website to being HTTPS-compliant by July 1, 2018—last Sunday!—your website is probably already being marked as not secure—though this might not take effect until 24 July, depending on when the next version of Chrome rolls out, according to Mickey Mellen of GreenMellen Media.
That’s right. Be sure to rush over to Squarespace, Wix, Total Choice, A2, and Bluehost and make sure they put you on the path to becoming HTTPS-compliant tout de suite!
If You Need a Bridge to HTTPS-Compliance Right Now
In the meantime, you might be able to get some relief by signing up for the free version of the Cloudflare CDN (these are step-by-step instructions, OK?)—they can take your non-HTTPS-compliant blog or website and wrap it in a flexible HTTPS shell.
While it’s probably a good idea to work towards being 100% natively HTTPS-compliant, CloudFlare will get you through the Google Chrome Summer Bloodbath of 2018. I know from experience because my silly little blog, RNNR, hosted on Total Choice Hosting, isn’t yet HTTPS-compliant and doesn’t own its own SSL certificate; however, it’s displaying on Chrome as secure.
Google Be Evil
Google’s kind of a dick. On one hand, their motto used to be “don’t be evil” (they just dropped it in May). They used to stand for content over budget. They used to try to offer an even playing field wherein the little guy with barely any technical skill could set up a little site and vaguely compete with the big guys, be it eCommerce- or content-driven. As of the last Sunday, July 1st, if you haven’t implemented HTTPS on your site, your site is probably going to be labeled as not secure.
While Google is a lying liar that lies, they’re telling the truth on this one.
Author’s Update: SEO guru, Mickey Mellen, commented, rightfully, “sites won’t be blocked in any way. The ‘not secure’ label is indeed a big deal, and sites should be working hard to implement SSL, but Chrome won’t be ‘blocking’ anything.” He then added, “If you have to click a few buttons to get through, I agree with calling that ‘blocking.’ In this case, it’s just adding some “not secure” text up near the address bar. Again, I agree that’s a very bad thing to have show up next to your site, but no one will have to click anything extra to get through.” Thank you, Mickey!
Hire Me
Feel free to own the yacht but hire a crew if you’re not yet seaworthy. If you get my drift and want to adopt the yachting lifestyle yourself but either don’t have the mad sailing skills yourself, don’t yet possess a world-class crew, or don’t know yet where to go, then you should give me a call, reach out me by email, or even schedule a call with me— so I can help you pilot your vessel now, in the tranquil blue-green shallows of the Caribbean, as well as in the roughest seas and into—as well as out of—the storm.
