What the Not secure label on your website means
Chrome marks every page served over plain http as Not secure in the address bar. Your site gets the label when its address starts with http instead of https.
The s in https stands for secure. Two requests to your host move your site to https. You can leave the technical work to your host. Your job is to ask for it and check it.
What it means for a visitor
A visitor fills in your contact form with a name and a phone number. On a plain http page, that form sends those words without protection.
The visitor can also see the label in the address bar while typing. The label shows on every page whose address starts with http.
Make a list of every page where a visitor types something. A contact form, a quote request and a booking page all count.
How to check your own address
Open your website on your phone and read the address bar. Do this on your home page and on every page from your list. Write down what you see on each page.
- Look for the words Not secure next to the address.
- Tap the address bar to see the whole address.
- Read the first letters of the address.
- An address that starts with http and no s is plain http.
What to ask your host
Your host is the company that stores your site and bills you for it. If you do not know who it is, ask whoever built the site. You can also look for a bill or an email about your site.
A certificate is what lets your site open over https. Do not edit the site files yourself. Ask your host whether the certificate costs extra. Send these three lines in one message.
- Add a certificate to my site.
- Send every http visit to the https address of the same page.
- Tell me when you finish both changes.
How to confirm it worked
Wait until your host says it has made the change. Then test it on your phone. Test the home page and the contact page. Test once on wifi and once on mobile data.
- Open your website again and read the address bar.
- Check that the words Not secure are gone.
- Check that the address now starts with https.
- Tap an old link to your site from an email or a text message.
- Check that the old link also ends on https.
- Open your website on a second phone and read the address bar there.
Links to update
Old links keep working once your host sends http visits to https. You can still update the links you control.
- Change the website link on your Facebook page to the https address.
- Change the link in your email signature.
- Change the address on your next batch of business cards.
- Change the link in any ad you control.
- Change the link on any other profile that points to your site.
If the label stays
Send your host a screenshot of the address bar. Name the page and the phone. Ask your host to look at that page first.
Try a second phone before you write. Tell your host what each phone shows. If only one page shows the label, name that page. If your host says it cannot add a certificate, ask whoever built your site what to do next.