Website Disappeared from Google SERPs after installing Really Simple SSL

  • Resolved mholmes88

    (@mholmes88)


    8 years, 1 month ago

    Hi there,

    I’m hoping you can help me out please. Last week we made our website https rather than http and installed Really Simple SSL.

    I also followed your instructions on changing the settings in Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

    But when I looked on Google this morning, our website is nowhere to be found. We were in position 2 for some top keywords and now we’ve vanished.

    Our website is: https://www.visual8.co.uk

    I’d appreciate any help you provide me with. Thank you

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Plugin Contributor Rogier Lankhorst

    (@rogierlankhorst)

    I don’t see any problems with the SSL setup: you have a 301 redirect to the https domain, and you have added your https properties to Search Console. So all ranking weight should be passed on to the new domain by Google. I’m not aware of any other edits that should be made.

    In my experience a https site always gets a higher ranking, not a lower one. Possibly this will be corrected within a few days.

    Thread Starter mholmes88

    (@mholmes88)

    Thank you for your quick reply, Rogier. I just hope I haven’t set something up incorrectly in Search Console.

    I’m also getting this message in my WordPress dashboard:

    Your .htaccess does not contain the Really Simple SSL redirect to https, and could not be written, so a javascript redirect is currently added. For SEO purposes it is advisable to use .htaccess redirects. Set the .htaccess file to writable and visit the settings page to write it again, or copy the code lines from the settings page

    Is this perhaps something I need to do to get the website back onto Google?

    Plugin Contributor Rogier Lankhorst

    (@rogierlankhorst)

    This is about the 301 redirect. As I see a 301 redirect on your website, this seems to be ok already.

    As a precaution you could add the suggested .htaccess redirect as well.

    Thread Starter mholmes88

    (@mholmes88)

    Ok, that’s good to know, thank you. I think we’ll add the htaccess redirect as a precaution.

    Is it normal for a website to disappear off Google after changing to https? If so, how long would it normally take for a website to get back on to Google?

    Plugin Contributor Rogier Lankhorst

    (@rogierlankhorst)

    It seems to happen sometimes, but in most cases the site is back in a few days. I would click the “fetch as google” link in Search Console to speed it up a bit.

    Thread Starter mholmes88

    (@mholmes88)

    Thank you for letting me know.

    It’s strange, as all other pages on the website are appearing in google searches, but the home page isn’t. Do I need to change something in my sitemap or robots.txt to reflect the new https?

    Plugin Contributor Rogier Lankhorst

    (@rogierlankhorst)

    Just to make sure, you could re-save the sitemap.

    Thread Starter mholmes88

    (@mholmes88)

    Thank you, Rogier. Just checked Google and my website has reappeared! I can breathe once more!!!

    Thank you all your help, much appreciated.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • The topic ‘Website Disappeared from Google SERPs after installing Really Simple SSL’ is closed to new replies.