TRAFFIC
Figure 4: Example of structured data overview with errors in
Google Search Console
Figure 2: Example of the Index Status of a new HTTPS
website in Google Search Console
Figure 3: Example of how fast Googlebot is downloading
a page
Figure 5: Example of structured data overview with errors in
Google Search Console
Monitor Google Search Console
To monitor the indexation numbers of the
HTTP and the HTTPS versions, keep an
eye on all submitted XML sitemaps. This,
combined with the Google Index Status,
as reported in Google Search Console, will
indicate how many of the URLs of the
HTTP version are being de-indexed and
updated to the HTTPS version (see Figure 2).
Also monitor the crawl stats overview
of the relevant HTTP and HTTPS
versions for crawl speed and make
sure the infrastructure responds fast to
Googlebot (see Figure 3). If needed, and
when possible, consider adding additional
and more powerful server instances with
improved network speed connections to
the infrastructure for the next few months
while Googlebot recrawls both the HTTP
and the HTTPS versions of the website.
If this has any effect on getting the website
faster crawled, it will only be visible in
the crawl stats and server log files.
Monitor the AMP overview, rich cards
overview and structured data overview
of the HTTPS version in Google Search
“ Not every website needs to undergo the switch
to HTTPS. However, from a user experience and
an SEO perspective, website owners can no longer
ignore HTTPS”
Console to see if any indexation issues
pop up, such as errors and the speed of
finding the data. If they do, fix these as
soon as possible (see Figure 4).
Monitor the crawl errors overview of
the relevant HTTP and HTTPS versions
in Google Search Console to see if there
are any issues with server errors (50x), not
found (404), connection issues and soft
404s 8 for desktop, feature phones and/or
smartphones (see Figure 5). If any server
errors, connection issues or soft 404s appear,
especially on the HTTPS version, fix these
as soon as possible. Highlighted not found
errors may be a false alarm, but make sure
these are not unexpected, and check why
they are occurring and if they need fixing.
9
Last but not least, monitor search
analytics in Google Search Console.
Earlier in this guide, different sets have
been created to group the different
properties. This includes one set with all
the relevant properties to this content move
of the HTTP and HTTPS versions. Now, it
is time to reap the benefits of doing this.
By combining all the relevant HTTP and
HTTPS properties, it is possible to track in
Google Search Analytics the overall impact
of the move to HTTPS in the Google
rankings, according to Google itself.
When content is moved from HTTP to
HTTPS, in each Google Search Console
property the Search Analytics are only
recorded and shared for that particular
8
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/181708
https://developers.google.com/webmaster-tools/search-console-api-original/v3/searchanalytics
iGB Affiliate Issue 63 JUN/JUL 2017
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