Google is slated to release Chrome 68 in July 2018, and it’s coming with a big change that will effect most if not all of us. For the past few years (maybe even more than a few) Google has been pushing for anyone that owns a website to move to https encryption. There certainly are benefits to this, however many website owners really didn’t care if they didn’t host a site that processed payments or with personal information. Google is changing all of this as of July 2018.

In July 2018, Google will be launching Chrome 68 which will begin marking http (non-https) websites as “not secure”. Prior to this, Chrome just didn’t show anything for http sites.

Below is an example of what this will look like before and after Chrome 68. The top will show what a http site will look like prior to Chrome 68, and the bottom will be how it is shown after.

And for contrast, here is how an https site will look (notice the word “Secure” and https in green, along with the nice lock).

Here are some statistic that Google has thrown out to us,

• Over 68% of Chrome traffic on both Android and Windows is now protected
• Over 78% of Chrome traffic on both Chrome OS and Mac is now protected
• 81 of the top 100 sites on the web use HTTPS by default

So, how does this impact us? If you are in the affiliate marketing or internet marketing industries, trust can be a huge factor whether or not your visitors convert. If your visitors see a “non secure” warning in their browser (Google Chrome), then they will be less enticed to stay and make a purchase, visit any links or fill out any forms.

Based off this, we strongly recommend all affiliates and anyone that is (or is trying to) make money online ensure their websites are https. In addition to this, we also recommend you check to ensure your partners and anyone you work with does the same. Many of the reputable affiliate networks have already reached out to their affiliates to let them know they are running https and will not be impacted with Google Chrome 68.

Remember, Google Chrome accounts for approx. 60% of web browsers.