What exactly this criterion covers
Here we are talking about a criterion that often makes the difference in an audit.
**G5 — HTTPS / SSL** (Chapter 7 - Technical SEO): Valid SSL certificate, TLS 1.2+, HSTS enabled, ranking factor
G5 — Chapter 7 - Technical SEO
Criterion g5-https-ssl : HTTPS / SSL — guide + checklist
Here we are talking about a criterion that often makes the difference in an audit.
The criterion **G5 — HTTPS / SSL** is part of our SEO checklist (335 criteria). Here, you have a **practical** method to check and fix it — with a concrete example.
Why It’s Important (SEO + UX)
Why it matters: it is an anti-duplicate / anti-cannibalization safeguard. When poorly implemented, we often observe: ambiguity (wrong associated query), duplication between pages, or performance loss in loading time.
On high-volume generated sites, this criterion also serves as a **safeguard**: a stable rule prevents 1,000 errors at once.
How to Verify (Step by Step)
Approach: express audit (manual + 1 tool). Recommended tool: **curl (headers)**.
- Open the source code and identify the relevant element (tag/structure).
- Check the hierarchy and consistency with H1 + intro.
- Run a crawl to detect pages that violate the criterion.
Tip: first isolate 10 “representative” URLs (top pages + generated pages) before scaling the correction.
How to Properly Fix
Strategy: fix, re-crawl, and monitor in Search Console.
- Check HTTPS + clean redirects.
- Add basic headers (HSTS, reasonable CSP) according to your stack.
- Re-test after deployment.
Then: re-crawl 50–200 URLs, then monitor Search Console over 7–14 days (impressions/CTR/indexing).
Concrete example (illustrative)
Example (illustrative):
- **Context**: FAQ page for real estate in Casablanca
- **Before**: HTTPS OK but headers missing (CSP/HSTS).
- **After**: Added HSTS + reasonable CSP + secure cookies (if applicable).
- **Note**: Goal: reduce risks and improve browser trust.
Checklist to tick off
- [ ] HTTPS everywhere
- [ ] Compliance: ranking factor
- [ ] Clean redirects
- [ ] Basic headers tested
- [ ] No mixed content
FAQ
Frequently asked questions — G5
What is the most common mistake with “HTTPS / SSL”?
Trying to “optimize” by adding too many keywords, which degrades readability and creates repetitions.
Which tool is the fastest for large-scale monitoring?
For this type of criterion, a crawl (e.g., Screaming Frog) + a targeted check in curl (headers) is generally the fastest combo.
How to prevent this from happening on 10K generated pages?
Freeze a rule for auto-generation (title/structure/schema/URLs) + add an automatic check (crawl or test) before importing into production.
Ready to go from theory to action?
Validate this criterion with an audit, then deepen the method in the Academy.