A historical reference to Google’s 2014 announcement that HTTPS would be used as a lightweight ranking signal.
HTTPS encrypts the connection between a browser and a website when correctly configured. The historical ranking announcement helped encourage adoption, but a secure connection should be treated as a basic customer-trust and technical requirement rather than a shortcut to high rankings.
Changing protocols also changes URLs. A migration therefore needs consistent redirects, canonical references, internal links and sitemap destinations. Installing a certificate without checking those details can leave duplicate versions or broken resources behind.
The 2014 announcement described a lightweight signal at that time. It does not establish a fixed current ranking percentage, and it does not mean a secure site’s claims are trustworthy. Encryption protects transport; it is not a certification of editorial accuracy or business legitimacy.
Takeaway: Use HTTPS consistently and validate the migration; do not buy an SEO promise based solely on adding a certificate.
Example
A business moves from HTTP to HTTPS. The team redirects old URLs to matching secure destinations, updates internal references and checks that forms and images work before calling the migration complete.
What to check
Monitor certificate validity, redirects and mixed-content issues. Evaluate security and search visibility as related but separate outcomes.
For more detail, see Google HTTPS ranking signal announcement.