I have been banging on about SSL certificates here and here and it turns out I was quite prescient.

In January 2017 Google is shifting the balance of internet security and the Chrome browser will report http:// websites as being not secure compared to https:// websites, it is likely all browsers will follow suit. You can read the Google blog post here

I am not going to go too deeply into SSL certificates and what it all means, you can read this if you are interested – but do note that their business model is now broken as SSL certificates are free – for everyone.

The good news is that if your hosting is with 123host you already have a free SSL certificate installed and you have https:// available whether you are using it or not.

Go ahead and try your domain but put https:// in front of it instead. There should be no error or warnings unless the domain is less than 24 hours old – certificates are checked and issued every night.  You’ll see a padlock next to the url

So what do you do next? If you are using WordPress go into the dashboard and change the URL from http:// to https:// in two places there.  If the links in your blog have been constructed properly it should all just work.

If you have a custom website of some sort simply start using https:// instead.  Again it should all work assuming it has been built properly.

If you are having any problems with https:// on your site open a ticket and the security gnomes will go into action.

Don’t ignore this. If you do, after January 2017 people will see something like this if they visit your site in Chrome.

If you don’t act now and need my help in 2017 I will charge for any work done.  How’s that for forcing the issue :o)