Change your WordPress site from HTTP to HTTPS

There are a number of reasons you might need to change the URL of your WordPress site. Say a change to the brand, or the required switch from HTTP to HTTPS for. Then, of course, there’s the matter of updating a website from www to a naked (non-www) URL.

The signs that a website has been secured with SSL are a padlock icon before the domain name in the address bar. Unsecured sites have an ⓘ  icon – and possibly “Not Secure” before the domain name:

Let’s Encrypt SSL is a free SSL service that we assist clients to update on their domain for all domains hosted with us to allow all websites to make use of the secure HTTPS protocol. If your WordPress website is not displaying as secure, here’s how to fix it:

How to activate HTTPS

New WordPress sites

In the Admin area of the newly created WordPress site select Settings (from the menu on the left-hand side) and update the WordPress address (URL) and Site address (URL) to https

Established WordPress sites

Current websites will already have been indexed by Google and the HTTP URL will need to be redirected to HTTPS. Thankfully there is a plugin that does the work. Really Simple SSL plugin automatically detects your settings and configures your website to run over https.  If you use Google Analytics, remember to update the settings to the HTTPS URL.