Most search engines treat HTTPS as a lightweight positive ranking signal, so migrating your site to HTTPS can give you a small boost in visibility while also signaling to users that your site is safer.
When you implement HTTPS, you protect data in transit and reduce the chance of content tampering. That protection improves user trust and can increase click-through rates from search results, which indirectly helps your rankings. You should also know that browsers display warnings on non-HTTPS pages that collect sensitive data, and those warnings can drive users away before they reach your content.
Your migration to HTTPS affects crawling and indexing. If you move URLs, use 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS, update canonical tags, sitemaps, hreflang entries, and internal links to point to the secure URLs. Notify search engines by adding the HTTPS property in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools so you can monitor coverage and indexing for the new version of your site.
Performance is part of the equation. Enabling HTTPS lets you adopt HTTP/2 and newer protocols that can improve load times, which in turn supports user engagement metrics that search engines consider. You should optimize TLS settings, choose a certificate with wide compatibility, and enable HSTS only after you confirm everything works correctly to avoid accidental lockouts.
Watch out for mixed content issues: if your pages load insecure subresources (images, scripts, stylesheets), browsers may block them or mark the page as partially insecure, harming user experience and crawlability. You need to update resource URLs to HTTPS and test pages across devices and browsers to ensure content loads consistently.
Expect temporary ranking fluctuations after a migration. If you follow best practices-use 301 redirects, preserve URL structure where possible, update backlinks when you can, and monitor analytics and search console data-those fluctuations should settle. You should also audit backlinks and outreach to high-value referrers to update their links to your HTTPS URLs for full link equity transfer.
Overall, HTTPS is a technical and user-experience investment that supports better security, potential ranking improvement, and higher user confidence. If you plan the migration carefully and monitor the transition, your site will be positioned to benefit from both search visibility and safer user interactions.