Thanks Eric, I appreciate the response.

Thanks Logan!

Hey Mozzers,

I'll be moving several sites from HTTP to HTTPS in the coming weeks (same brand, multiple ccTLDs). We'll start on a low traffic site and test it for 2-4 weeks to see the impact before rolling out across all 8 sites.

Ideally, I'd like to simply 301 redirect the HTTP version page to the HTTPS version of the page (to get that potential SEO rankings boost). However, I'm concerned about the potential drop in rankings, links and traffic.

I'm thinking of alternative ways and so instead of the 301 redirect approach, I would keep both sites live and accessible, and then add rel canonical on the HTTPS pages to point towards HTTP so that Google keeps the current pages/ links/ indexed as they are today (in this case, HTTPS is more UX than for SEO).

Has anyone tried the rel canonical approach, and if so, what were the results? Do you recommend it?

Also, for those who have implemented HTTPS, how long did it take for Google to index those pages over the older HTTP pages?

I've read tens, possibly hundreds of articles on subdomains vs folders.

I still prefer the folder approach (it makes more sense to me) but I'd be interested in seeing the article you refer to that says Google now views SD the same as folders. Much appreciated!

I would not buy any forum-links but as long you provide relevant content and add to the discussions then you will be fine. If you have the resources and time, then perhaps it might be an idea to guest blog instead?