How to convert your website to use SSL

How can I convert my html or php website to use SSL?

In this article we explain how to convert a website to use an SSL certificate.

If your site is built with WordPress, please see How to setup WordPress to use SSL for WordPress specific instructions.

Before you use these steps you’ll need to ensure you have an SSL certificate. All DomainsFoundry web hosting plans include Free Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificates which are pre-installed and ready for you to use.

We strongly recommend taking a backup of your website files before making changes.

Step 1: Setup a .htaccess redirect

Setup a redirect to force your website visitors to use the https version of your website using the steps in the link below:

How To Force SSL Using .htaccess

Step 2: Update hard coded links in your files

Open your website files in your favourite website code editor and search for any http:// entries.

Replace the http:// entries with https://

Save and then re-upload the files

Step 3. Fix insecure items on your site

If you see an insecure or mixed content warnings when visiting your website over https://, it is typically due to CSS, JS or external links. You can look into what is causing the warnings using your web browser console.

Step 4: Update sitemaps and robots.txt files

If you have a sitemap or robots.txt file change any http:// references to https://

Step 5: Add the https:// version of your site to Google Search Console

Create a new Google Search Console property for your new https:// website. This will ensure the secure version of your website is indexed in Google.