Google is everyone’s friend, this search engine has managed to amass millions of users worldwide and it never fails to meet its user’s expectations.
With great power comes great responsibility; keeping this saying in mind, Google developers ensure that the search engine is getting better and improving with the pace of time.
With time things are drastically changing (especially technology) thus it’s clear that the successful ones are those who adapt to time-to-time changes, no matter how difficult it is, while unsuccessful ones, needless to say, remain at the bottom.
Keeping this view in mind, Google brings new changes in its operation and protocols to ensure that its user’s privacy is kept private and secure from unethical hackers’ reach.
Therefore, it has changed its URL address from HTTP to HTTPS, followed by the redirect link that is gws_rd SSL, which means that the Google search engine redirects to SSL.
In this article, we’ll be talking in detail about this modification brought by Google and a lot more so stay connected until the end. Now, let’s get started!
https www google com gws_rd ssl Meaning
Google has upgraded its security protocols to ensure user privacy protection. Therefore, whenever you type the beginning URL of a site you want to reach, that’s HTTP in the beginning, Google redirects it to HTTPS.
The HTTPS URL link has a gws_rd SSL extension to it, which is uniform for all sites that are currently available on Google.
This means that https www. google com gws_rd ssl is a worldwide uniform URL that remains unchanged unless Google does it.
Moreover, as Google made it compulsory for every site to have its URL address converted from HTTP to HTTPS, it should also follow an extension to it that’s gws_rd ssl.
Note that when you open a site in a country for example, India, the redirect happens like https://www.google.co.in/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=8MUlVPOQCobV8gf7tICwDQ in which gfe_rd=cr refers to the Google redirect in the respective country and ei is the engine ID, followed by a string of random alphabets and numerics that show cookie.
The SSL that follows the HTTPS extension, indicates that the Google server redirects it to SSL mode which stands for Secure Sockets Layers.
The SSL extension ensures that the Google server web security protocol is fulfilled and no security concerns are raised regarding the site the user is trying to access.
I’m sure you know about the encryption of data, just like WhatsApp ensures end-to-end encryption of our chats, SSL makes sure that the data exchange between two systems (we and our browser) is kept encrypted.
This action guarantees that no viruses or hackers can get hold of the encrypted data, protecting the user’s privacy from malware.
What Is SSL?
SSL is an abbreviation for Several Socket Layers which is a security protocol against malware. Being a part of the HTTPS protocol, it protects data on the internet from being leaked.
It encrypts data shared between the user and the browser by following a set of procedures like handshake authentication to do the translation of letters into numbers on authentic devices only.
It performs encryption by basic translation of input done in letters into numerical values, ensuring that only authentic users have access to the data, the secrecy of data is preserved and no malware can harm it.
SSL was modified into TLS in 1999, therefore you can search it up as TLS instead of SSL.
How SSL/TLS Works
Handshake Authentication: During the handshake process, the client and server authenticate each other’s identities and negotiate encryption algorithms and cryptographic keys.
Data Encryption: SSL/TLS encrypts data by converting plain text input into ciphertext, making it unreadable to unauthorized parties. This ensures data confidentiality and integrity during transmission over the Internet.
What Is HTTPS?
Being the lead security protocol, HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.
As a modification of the previous HTTP protocol, HTTPS is a security protocol followed by every site we can access on the internet.
Previously, it was easy for hackers and data snatchers to access the data transfer between the browser and the user, however, with the modification of the earlier version, HTTPS enables the transfer of data between its authentic user and the browser only.
The encryption of data is from end-to-end and no one should be able to access it easily.
| HTTPS | SSL |
| HTTPS is introduced as a replacement for HTTP protocol. | SSL is a part of the HTTPS security protocol so it can’t provide data encryption all alone. |
| SSL is a cryptographic protocol tool that is responsible for making HTTPS efficient, thus without its security, HTTPS can’t work. | SSL is now replaced by TLS (transport layer security) to provide enhanced data encryption. |
| HTTPS can’t function on its own, it needs modern technology like SSL to make it functional. | SSL is a cryptographic protocol tool that is responsible to make HTTPS efficient, thus without its security, HTTPS can’t work. |
How To Add SSL To A Website?
If you’re a website owner and you’re looking for authentic ways that could guide you to add SSL to your website, look no further as in this section we’ll particularly guide you through adding SSL to your website.
To get an SSL:
- Buy an SSL certificate from CA (Certificate Authority)
- Issue a Certificate Signing Request on your web server and submit it to the CA after completing the validation process.
- Download the certificate after you get it.
- Build your web server to be able to identify the SSL certificate for being able to access HTTPS connection.
- Take time to test if the SSL certificate is working on the web server.
This generalized method given above can vary in procedures and the number of steps, depending on the web server you’re using and issuing an SSL certificate for.
Therefore you might want to ask for guidance in this regard from the web server software authority.
Conclusion
By the end of this article, the main takeaway points that we discussed are:
- Google prioritizes its customer’s safety, therefore it experiments with different security protocols to ensure protection from online malware.
- Therefore, Google has changed its URL address from HTTP to HTTPS, followed by the redirect link that is gws_rd ssl, which means that the Google search engine redirects to ssl.
- The HTTPS URL link has a gws_rd ssl extension to it, which is uniform for all sites that are currently available on Google.
- Redirect happens in different forms in different countries, for instance in India, gfe_rd=cr refers to the Google redirect in the respective country and ei is the engine ID, followed by a string of random alphabets and numerics that show cookies.
- The SSL extension ensures that the Google server web security protocol is fulfilled and no security concerns are raised regarding the site the user is trying to access.
- HTTPS can’t function on its own, it needs modern technology like SSL to make it functional, SSL is a cryptographic protocol tool that is responsible for making HTTPS efficient, thus without its security, HTTPS can’t work.
- To add SSL to your website, you need to issue an SSL certificate from CA by following the five steps in the article which include buying an SSL certificate from CA (Certificate Authority)