How to make sure SEO runs smooth after SSL intallation

It’s common that for one reason or another a website needs to install an SSL certificate after years of not having one. Wether its for taking payments or personal information, or forced by a 3rd party integration you want to be sure you don’t loose any of your hard earned search engine rankings during the transition. Here are a few simple steps to make sure are completed after an transition to SSL is made.

1. Proper forwarding for http to https. This should be done at the 301 level and done site wide. This is assuming you’ve decided to run the entire site through https and not just the pages that “need” to be secured.
2. Set your rel=canonical tag for preferred page version. It’s good practice to have this setup without SSL too, but if you have ignored the flood of information about this tag, now would be the time to make you use canonical URLs. It will help you avoid duplicate content penalty when introducing the new https protocol.
3. Update Google Search Console and Analytics. After you make the switch you want to be sure you have the right tools setup to monitor for any drops in traffic or warning indicators. Make sure your profile information is up to date for both products (and any other you may use) to keep your SEO data flowing in.