WordPress: How to set up and translate the site into HTTPS

Since my blog is designed for beginners, the question arose: tell me in detail about what HTTP and HTTPS are, what is an SSL certificate and why is it all needed?

I decided that this article will be focused on technical details, and I recommend to read the theory in the Google blog. The simplest to understand, without unnecessary complicated terminology and with simple examples, is the article What is the HTTPS protocol, and how it protects you on the Internet.

So, modern realities are such that any site sooner or later must switch to secure data transmission. First of all, this is important for sites where information is exchanged between the site owner and the user, all Internet shops, sites where there is user registration with the transfer of personal data fall under this category of sites.

To translate a site to HTTPS, you need to get a special SSL certificate. Certificates are different. There are three main types.

• DV-Domain Validation is the simplest entry-level certificate, confirms only the domain name. Suitable for simple sites, for example, blogs, small commercial sites without registration and data exchange, where there is no exchange of personal information between the site visitor and the server on which the site is located. Such a certificate is issued automatically within a few minutes. These are the cheapest certificates.
• OV - Organization Validation - the certificate confirms that the domain and organization belong to one legal entity. Before issuing such a certificate, the CA checks the actual existence of the organization that requested the certificate. It is necessary to provide not only the necessary information on your legal entity, but also to answer a phone call from the certification center. The cost depends on the center where the certificate was obtained.
• EV - Extendet Validation - the certificate with the expanded check, such certificates the most difficult in reception, are obligatory for banks and payment systems.

So, for individuals and simple sites, DV SSL certificates are suitable. At the same time, the good news is that such a certificate can be obtained absolutely free of charge. At the moment I know three certification centers, where you can get an SSL certificate for free:

Let's Encrypt
CloudFlare
StartSSL

But do not rush to get a certificate yourself. Go to your control panel on the hosting, look carefully, it may well be that your provider provides the service of automatically receiving a free certificate with all the necessary settings.

If your hosting does not automatically provide such a service, then you will have to obtain an SSL certificate yourself, and then write to the hosting support service, which will assist in installing the certificate on the site.

With this option, you can choose any of the free certificates, and follow the instructions on the website of the certification center.

So, half the job is done. Before we proceed directly to the settings of WordPress, you need to prepare, because it's a working site, not a new one.

Preparing the site for transfer to HTTPS

Of course, I was worried when I first made all the settings for the transition. But nothing difficult in the transfer there. The main thing, as always, is to prepare beforehand and strictly follow the stages of transfer. Personally, I got them 7.

At the time of the transition to https I had a version of WordPress 4.4.4. Problems that I would not have been prepared for was not. Everything went in the normal mode.

Before you start any work, you should know:

1. How to back up and restore the site. Be able to do it quickly without fuss.
2. Install plugins.
3. Be able to make changes to theme files.

Backup site

First of all, I recommend making a backup through the hosting panel, because in my opinion, quickly restore the site from the control panel hosting the easiest. If something goes wrong, the site is restored by pressing a button. But additionally you can not protect yourself. You must save the database and files of your theme. You can use special plug-ins, for example, BackUpWordPress.

Changing Image URLs

All addresses to images are stored in the database. So we made her backup. To make changes to the MySQL database, you can use the special Better Search Replace plugin. The plugin is installed in the Tools section. We go into the settings of the plugin.