Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Google » Google: SEO » Nearly half of users have a bad reaction to ‘not secure’ browser warning, survey finds

Nearly half of users have a bad reaction to ‘not secure’ browser warning, survey finds

With few exceptions, brands suffered diminished credibility in UK study.

Greg Sterling on February 25, 2019 at 9:24 am

Web users are put off by seeing a “not secure” message attached to a website, agency John Cabot has found after it surveyed 1,324 people in the UK. But we’re not just talking about knee-jerk negative reactions. In fact, the survey found the flag affects both behavior and brand perceptions.

Fear and loathing.  Since 2014, HTTPS has been a ranking signal for Google. And since July 2018, Google has marked HTTP sites in Chrome “not secure., However, the survey found that 47 percent of respondents “knew roughly what the warning meant.” An equivalent number (46 percent) said that they would not enter their names or financial information into a site that was not secure. And 64 percent of that group said they would leave the site “instantly.”

Other fears or concerns included:

  • Their device was exposed to a virus — 14 percent
  • They had arrived on a fake version of the intended site — 12 percent
  • The content was “unreliable and not fact-checked” — 9 percent
  • Being signed up for spam email — 8.4 percent

The survey also found many people feared that their search histories would be sold.

Brand perception affected. With some exceptions, brand perceptions were negatively impacted by the “not secure” warning. UK retailer John Lewis didn’t suffer as much negative sentiment as other known brands, suggesting that in a limited number of cases brand strength or loyalty can overcome the impact of the not secure warning.

But the attitudes and concerns above suggest conversions are being lost from exposure to the warning.

Why you should care. The results above imply that half of survey population was not as concerned about the warning. So one could take a “half empty, half full” view of the study. But that would be a mistake. The combination of HTTPS as a ranking factor and the adverse reactions of consumers to seeing the not secure warning create an imperative to adopt HTTPS encryption. There’s really no reason to not go HTTPS.

John Cabot observed that, despite this, “there are still millions of websites with the ‘not secure’ warning.”


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


New on Search Engine Land

    More FAQ rich results being displayed in Google Search

    Webinar: Benchmark your social media performance for a competitive edge

    Google releases May 2022 broad core update

    Spotify, Meta update political ad offerings for 2022 election cycle

    Take web hosting to the (NVMe) extreme

About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

GoogleGoogle: SEOSEO

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

The SMX Conference logo.

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

The MarTech Conference logo.

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

Webinars

Benchmark Your Social Media Performance For a Competitive Edge

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

The State of Influencer Pricing

How to Measure Influencer Performance

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.