Install HTTPS in WordPress

Benefits of using HTTPS

HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP, which is a protocol for transferring data over the web. If you’re browsing a site with HTTPS enabled, your experience should remain the same, but all the data you send will be encrypted.

In most cases, HTTPS goes hand-in-hand with SSL certificates, which verify a site’s identity. Let’s put it this way – if someone decided to set up a phishing site that looked exactly like Google, they could. However, they wouldn’t be able to set up an SSL certificate for it, which means their ruse wouldn’t hold up.

Foiling attackers and phishers aren’t the only benefits of enabling HTTPS for your website. You also get to enjoy the following perks:

1. Improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google favors sites that emphasize security by enabling HTTPS. Doing so might not rocket you to a top results page spot overnight, but it can give you a slight boost.
2. Increased trust from your users. For many people, knowing that you’re taking steps to secure their data might be enough to improve their opinion about your site. It’s a win-win situation.

Now that you know what HTTPS is and how it relates to SSL Certificates let’s talk about enabling it for your websites.

How to Enable HTTPS Through your Web Hosting

By now, you know that SSL certificates and HTTPS go hand in hand. That means you’ll need to set up the former if you want to enable the latter correctly.

Depending on your web host, there are two ways you can go about this:

1. Get a third-party SSL certificate and set it up through your hosting cPanel.
2. Find a provider that offers options to set things up on your behalf.

If you’re going to opt for the first route, you can use the SSL/TLS option on your neoxea cPanel to assist you through the whole process:

On the other hand, we also offer free SSL certificates by default alongside our plans and HTTPS support.

That means you can enjoy the benefits without worrying about enabling HTTPS manually.

How to Enable HTTPS Within WordPress

If you’re a WordPress user, there are a couple more steps you have to go through to enable HTTPS for your site. For those of you setting up new websites, all you need to do is specify the HTTPS prefix under the Choose Protocol field during the setup process:

On the other hand, if you already have a website up and running, you’ll need to update several areas on the Settings tab within your dashboard. They are WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL), and you need to make sure they’re both using the HTTPS prefix:

Afterward, you’ll need to access your site’s root directory (usually named either public_html or www) using an FTP client – we recommend FileZilla. Inside that folder, you’ll find a file called .htaccess, which handles your installation’s permalink structure and redirects (among other functions):

You’ll need to modify this file by right-clicking on it and choosing View/Edit, which will enable you to change it using a text editor:

Now, add the following lines to your file and save the changes when you are ready:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.yoursite.com/$1 [R,L]

</IfModule>

This code snippet will create a redirect so that any user who tries to access your site using HTTP will force HTTPS instead. It sounds drastic, but it’s the best way to ensure that your visitors’ data remains safe at all times.