What to do After Installing SSL Certificate on Your WordPress Website
September 20th, 2017 | by Ravi Chahar || 5 Comments |
It’s one of the sensitive topics these days and people are really worried about their non-HTTPS websites. Many people have enabled it but don’t know what to do after installing SSL certificate.
As I have discussed before, you can also enable SSL using your Inmotion Hosting account if you’re their customer. It’s just like any other web hosting.
But the point occurs as if what would you do if you use CloudFlare or your web hosting and fail to apply the SSL accurately.
Most of the times, people fail because of their existing content. In this article, you will learn the things you should do to fix everything.
Check the URL of Your Website Along With All the Posts and Pages
You may know many bloggers who are using the free SSL certificate of CloudFlare and explain how it’s done.
Well, nowadays, you don’t need a CDN for enabling SSL if your web hosting is good enough. Most of the web hosting companies are providing free SSL for one year.
You can easily enable SSL certificate on your WordPress website but the problem occurs if you have been publishing for quite a long time.
First of all, you should check the main URL of your website if it’s getting redirected to the HTTPS. If it’s working then you have to check the posts and the pages.
If those are also working then fine otherwise, you have to make a redirect from HTTP to HTTPS.
Add this code in the .htaccess file of your website. I hope you know how to edit this file.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R,L]
Don’t forget to replace the example.com and the www.example.com with your domain name.
If everything goes fine then congrats. But you get the mixed content error in the Google Search Console then go ahead.
Check the Interlinks of Your Whole Website
If you have posted many posts and added the interlinks then you should check when you click on those links, whether they fetch the HTTPS or not.
Even after applying the redirect, these links don’t get redirected properly. The .HTACCESS redirect only works for the main URLs.
Now you require a plugin to fix this.
Install and activate Really Simple SSL plugin. And the best thing is that you don’t need any kind of setting. But to be sure, you should check if the mixed content option is enabled.
To properly activate this plugin, go to its configuration page and you will see a button to enable it.
Once you do so, you will see the green tick signs for the settings you activated including the mixed content. Now you can check each and every link on your website.
Everything should work fine.
Do you now know What to do after installing SSL certificate
If you’re afraid of adding the code in the .htaccess file then you can directly use the plugin and get rid of the coding fear.
Most of the people give a try to the coding part but to avoid the plugin. But if you can’t stand then just install it.
I have experimented without any plugin but the interlinks weren’t redirecting to the HTTPS version of the protocol. So I had to use a plugin.
I am sure now you know what to do after installing SSL certificate on your website. If you still have any doubt, feel free to ask.
You can also connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Hi Ravi,
Well written!
All the point are really important after installing SSL Certificate in your website or blog. Thanks for sharing this helpful post but you missed one thing which I believe has the same importance.
If any website owner using Google Webmaster tool before installing the SSL certificate, they also need to verify his website again by changing the property from HTTP to HTTPS. Because domain property has been changed so Google Webmaster will not show you correct data.
Please share your suggestion Ravi and thanks for sharing an informative article.
– Rajinder
Hey Rajinder,
You’re absolutely right, it’s required to add your website again in the Google Search Console with the HTTPS protocol. But I was saving it for a separate post which will focus only on the settings of the webmaster.
Glad you noticed it.
Enjoy your day.
~Ravi
Hi Ravi,
Great explanation on the steps to take after installing an SSL certificate. Luckily I didn’t have to worry about any of this when I switched my blog to HTTPS. I outsourced the whole process instead of trying to figure things out.
However, next week, I’ll be doing this for a client. They are using the free Let’s Encrypt. I’ve done one before and it was pretty simple. I didn’t run into any issues.
If I run into issues this time around, at least I’ll know where to turn to for help.
Thanks for sharing this with us, have a great day ?
Susan
Hi Ravi,
Thanks for this timely post.
In fact, I was facing some problem even after installing the SSL Certificates on my both sites.
After an extensive search, one of my online friends came in with a helping hand to fix the problem. I faced all the problems mentioned in this post. But my friend could fix it with his expertise. and now both sites are perfectly working and showing the lockpad in green in the URL.
Another thing i noticed that if we are commenting on CommentLuv option pages do we need to use our old url only for commenting?
What is the problem with CommentLuv in accepting with our new url?
THanks for this timely piece.
Best Regards
~ Philip
Hey Philip,
I have seen many people facing the problem with CommentLuv. Try creating the RSS feed of your website again and then use the HTTPS in the comment section.
If not then you have to wait for the CommentLuv update.
~Ravi