How to Add an SSL Certificate (HTTPS)

Here are some tips on how to add an SSL certificate to your website.

All website hosts are different, so there are no instructions for a specific website host.

1. Search Your Host for an SSL Certificate

Search your website host help site and Cpanel for instructions to add an SSL certificate to your domain address. Most website hosts have a free SSL certificate option.

Usually, when you activate the SSL certificate, you will need to wait 15 minutes.

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2. Update WordPress URL to HTTPS

Once your SSL certificate is live, visit your website and update the URL.

1. In WordPress, click General under Settings.
2. In both the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) inputs, update http to https.
3. Click the Save Changes button.
   1. This will keep you out of your website; you will need to log back in.

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3. Update All Content URLs to HTTPS

Any content that you previously uploaded to your website:

1. Beats
2. Images
3. Download file
4. Etc

Will probably point to your old http:// address.

It is suggested you go in and update these URLs manually.

Simply update http to https.

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4. Check For Secure Pages

You should go through each page on your website and check if you see a lock icon in the browser.

If you see the lock, the page is good.

If you don’t see a lock and see something different, then you may need to update some of the URLs of some content on the page.

Check this by:

1. Editing the page and searching the content with an HTTP URL
2. Check the sidebar for any content that may have an HTTP URL
3. And check the images in the header and footer for the old URL

All old URLs need to be updated from http to https

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5. Update Menu Links

If you have any menu links linking to your http URLs, update them to the https address.

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Additional Help

Plugin Suggestions

If you still have issues with getting the lock icon in the browser after updating content URLs, try installing the Really Simple SSL Plugin.

YouTube Tutorials

You can find some helpful YouTube tutorials here: How to Add SSL Certificate to WordPress.