HTTP protocol or HTTPS is the element preceding the address of every website. Although the average internet user pays little attention to it, the correct protocol is very important, not least because of the SEO. Do you want to know what the different versions of the HTTP protocol are? How does it differ from HTTPS? Read our article in which we have compiled the most important information.
HTTP - a relic of the past?
If you are interested in the subject of SEO, you have certainly heard more than once about HTTP and HTTPS in the context of SEO. But do you know what these protocols are? It is time to take a closer look at them. In the simplest terms, HTTP, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol is responsible for communication between the server and the browser. It was created over 20 years ago! HTTP/1.1 was written in 1999 by members of the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), an international, informal association of people interested in setting organisational and technical standards on the Internet.
The main purpose of HTTP is presentation of the content of the page to the user who sent the request. The whole process can be represented as follows:
- The client sends a query (request) to the server.
- The server sends it the data, i.e. the site's resources, its content
It is important to note that the HTTP protocol does not specify how the data got from point A to point B. Nor does it store the data - it is a protocol stateless. This has the advantage of not overloading the server with a large amount of data, which streamlines its operation.
However, the fact that HTTP does not store data also has its disadvantages, which are felt especially when using the website several times in short intervals. Each time, the data must be downloaded again from the server. For this reason, many websites using HTTP, use the cookies (These cookies are used by website owners to collect information about visitors. If internet marketing and SEO are not new to you, you will know that such data is very valuable and is used, for example, in remarketing campaigns.
What is the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?
HTTP and HTTPS abbreviations before the address URL mean how an internet user will receive information from a server when accessing a site with the content they want to consult. The main difference between the protocols is the way in which the site is secured and data is transmitted. Unlike HTTP, HTTPS encrypts the data being transmitted. It has an additional form of security in the form of an encrypted certificate SSL - Secure Socket Layer. It ensures the security of connections and is an essential element of protection. This is very important for users who expect guarantees of the confidentiality of the data that is exchanged between client-server and server-client.
Thanks to SSL, HTTP protects data such as logins, passwords and other sensitive data (e.g. PESEL, identity card number, address or payment card numbers and expiry dates) from falling into the wrong hands. The HTTP protocol is a must for e-banking pages, online shops or other sites where it is possible to enter personal data.
Implementing an SSL certificate is not insignificant for SEO, as it is one of the more than two hundred factors Google takes into account when assessing a site's value to users. What's more, when displaying an unsecured site in Chrome, they see a message informing them of this. This makes it so that visitors can leave the site as quickly as they arrived.
Protocol versions - HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, HTTP/3
Continuous development is emblematic of any technology, and of the internet in particular. It is therefore not surprising that HTTP/1.1, which is now more than 20 years old, has been replaced in the 2015 by a newer version. The HTTP/2 protocol solves many problems, and the most important of its capabilities is that it increases web page loading speeds by up to two times! IT company Cloudflare has shared information according to which the average has decreased from 9 seconds to 4.3! It should be noted that for the new version to work, it must have an SSL certificate.
How was this new quality and speed of connection achieved? The number of requests generated to the web server by the browser has been reduced. In the case of HTTP/2, when you enter a page, you make one connection that lasts until you leave the page. Other changes include prioritisation and parallel downloading of multiple page elements. Prioritisation involves servers giving higher priority to more important resources - and this in turn improves loading speeds. Another advantage of the new version of HTTP is the PUSH mechanism, which sends resources to the browser before it asks for them.
Despite its numerous advantages and its availability for some time now, there are still many hosting companies that do not support the HTTP/2.0 protocol. A at the end of 2020 another groundbreaking update has arrived - HTTP/3, which was developed in 2018! Instead of basing HTTP on the basic TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) as before, it is based on QUIC. It speeds up page loading even more, as it does not block all packets (portions of data) when one gets "lost".
Summary
If you are considering implementing newer versions of HTTP, you should know that Google has been encouraging this for quite some time. HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 are primarily associated with optimising page load times, and this is, after all, a factor that is taken into account during SEO.
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