Google’s Journey to Standardize HTTPS: Majority of Web Pages Now Accessed Through Secured Connection

The digital arena in its entirety found an important milestone in recent data. The use of HyperText Transport Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which facilitates a secured link with internet servers, now accounts for a significant majority of all web pages accessed using Google Chrome, serving more than 50 percent of loaded pages on desktop devices.

As a provider of internet content, Google has engaged themselves in tracking these HTTPS connections since 2015, offering range of insights for those who have opted to share their information. As illustrated in Google’s [transparency report](https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/https/metrics/?hl=en), connections using HTTPS on any major desktop operating systems, such as Linux, Chrome OS, Windows, and Mac, have surpassed the halfway mark. This positive trend suggests that users increasingly recognize the importance of enhanced security in their online interactions.

[Image: HTTPS Usage Over Time]

In the realm of mobile surfaces, the progress of secure browsing is picking up pace, albeit more slowly than on desktop. Take Android devices for instance, where page loads facilitated via HTTPS amounted to 40 percent – an impressive 10 percent increase since April 2015. This transition to secure internet access still has ample space for growth in the mobile territory.

Last Friday and counting, Google has made [public appeals](https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/11/heres-to-more-https-on-web.html) advocating for a greater adoption of HTTPS, urging those who haven’t migrated their sites to consider the benefits beyond a simple security boost. With the adoption of HTTPS, better performance and more powerful features are available to stakeholders, such as the provision for offline support and [web push notifications](https://www.mobify.com/insights/google-web-push-notifications-case-study/), and enhanced features like credit card autofill and the HTML5 geolocation API that is regarded too powerful to be served over non-secure HTTP.

Few months back in September, Google also [announced](http://techbooky.com/google-chrome-to-start-warning-users-of-http-sites-that-transmit-passwords/) its plan to begin flagging any website that continues to utilize HTTP for sending confidential information, as a commencement towards marking all non-HTTPS sites in the future. Emily Schechter from the Chrome Security Team stated that in following updates, HTTP warnings will become more extensive, leading to all HTTP sites being flagged as non-secure.

For those arguably resistant to the new change, Google reassures that the transition towards HTTPS is often straightforward. Whether disputed or agreed upon, Google is progressing to redirect all HTTP web requests on Google.com through HTTPS, forging the path for a safer, more secure browsing experience.