WordPress: Move traffic to HTTPS

This article duplicates WordPress: Move traffic to HTTPS. We recommend using that article instead; this page is kept for backwards compatibility.

This guide shows how to easily update all links in your WordPress site to use the secure HTTPS (secure HTTP) protocol, so that visitors are served over an SSL (TLS) connection and see the padlock (lock icon) in their browser.

Before proceeding, you need to have completed the following steps:

  1. Your domain needs an SSL certificate.
  2. If you installed WordPress through our One Click Installer and bought the simplest certificate, you need to move all media files to the default uploads directory first.

Once both steps are complete, log in to your WordPress site.

Install the Really Simple SSL plugin

In this guide we make the change using the Really Simple SSL plugin. The free version is sufficient.

Search for it, install and activate the plugin in your WordPress admin.

Installing the Really Simple SSL plugin in WordPress

A new menu item will appear under “Settings”.

Really Simple SSL menu item under WordPress Settings

Activate SSL in WordPress

Select “SSL” to open the plugin. You should first see that there is an active SSL certificate for your domain. You can ignore the prompt to buy the Premium version of the plugin — the final step is handled through your Loopia Customer Zone.

Really Simple SSL status panel showing SSL detected

You should see a green tick and the text “An SSL certificate was detected on your site.” Click “Settings” and enable the 301 redirect.

Enabling the 301 redirect in Really Simple SSL settings

Return to “Configuration” and select “Go ahead, activate SSL“.

All links are now updated to HTTPS.

Force HTTPS in the Loopia Customer Zone

Log in to the Loopia Customer Zone via loopia.com and choose “Force SSL” so that all incoming traffic to the website goes over HTTPS.

Force SSL option in the Loopia Customer Zone

Click “Save” once you have made the change. You can verify that everything is working by visiting your site and confirming that the address bar shows “https” together with a padlock on the left.

Browser address bar showing HTTPS and the padlock

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