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A complete guide about HTTP/2 Protocol

Image Credit: Google

Google always gives importance to sites that are user-friendly, fast loading, SEO-friendly, and good responding. And this is the reason that everyone knows the importance of enhancing the speed of their website in online marketing. Though there are many factors that play a great role in improving the overall performance of a website, one such is HTTP. Every SEO or webmaster would know about it. It is a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Let me tell you like every application, software, algorithm, HTTP too gets updated and brings some sort of new feature with it.

And HTTP/2 is the new version of HTTP. Do you know exactly what HTTP/2 is, its importance, and how it is different from HTTP? If you are curious to know then this article is a complete guide on HTTP/2 for you.

Let’s make a start with the basics first.

What exactly HTTP/2 stands for?

HTTP/2 is the new version of HTTP 1.1. The newish protocol transport data to drastically speed up the web and can help boost your SEO. It uses new technologies to provide full multiplexing connections. HTTP/2 was introduced back in February 2015 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) HTTP working group. I would say HTTP/2 is much needed upgrade to the HTTP protocol; it manages the communication between browsers and web servers. Moreover, HTTP/2 provides a dramatic speed boost for the website.

What are the main objectives of developing HTTP/2?

  • Provides high level of speed to website
  • High-level compatibility with HTTP/1.1 such as methods, URLs, status codes, and header fields.
  • Request pipelining
  • Request multiplexing over a single TCP connection
  • Helps in compression of header, and reduce overhead
  • Package blocking
  • Binary protocols
  • Protocol negotiation mechanism
  • HTTP/2 server also pushes and request proactively into client caches In lieu of waiting for a new request for each resource.

These were some of the goals that HTTP group took into consideration for developing HTTP/2 version. All these goals make HTTP/2 different from HTTP 1.1

How effective HTTP/2 is for your SEO?

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is an integral part of your website, right. Let me tell you that impact of HTTP/2 will be indirect that you will see. It is also because Google doesn’t consider this protocol in its algorithm, but it does reward sites for complying HTTP/2 protocol because it provides a great user experience. Below given points will highlight the impact of HTTP/2 on SEO.

  • HTTP/2 improves the speed of your site that will make a positive impact on SEO.
  • Website performance on mobile devices will improve with the change to HTTP/2
  • With HTTP/2, new coding languages like AMP and HTML can effectively work together.
  • HTTP/2 helps webmasters bring long-term benefit to their site as it will provide a faster and safer digital connection to all the marketers.

All the above points have cleared that how important HTTP/2 is for your SEO. Let’s move ahead and talk more about HTTP/2.

Let’s now talk about the main advantages of HTTP/2

Enhanced mobile performance

The first big advantage of using HTTP/2 version is that it provides high performance to mobile users. You all know that millions of users access the web from their mobile devices because mobile is the primary gateway to the cyber world. And HTTP/2 is designed in the consideration of present-day web using trend. The features like multiplexing and header compression work well to reduce the load time. HTTP/2 makes a positive impact on mobile users.

Large scale reach

Asian and African are the two markets that have limited access to affordable internet. And internet service providers invest and provide services to largely urban areas and developed countries. With the launch of HTTP/2, it is possible for people to access internet. The protocol naturally reduces network congestion to save resources for distant undeserved geographic locations.

Provides high-level of security

 Security is one of the main concerns in the internet world. And HTTP/2 prevents security threats targeting text-based application layer protocol. How it provides security to users? Basically, HTTP/2 carries commands in binary and enables compression of the HTTP header Metadata in following by ‘Security in Obscurity’ approach to protect sensitive data exchanging between clients and server.

Cost-efficient internet

At present, the cost of internet is at peak. The price of internet doesn’t seem to be dropped. Therefore, HTTP/2 promises to increase throughout and enhanced data communication efficiencies that will allow telco providers to reduce operational expenses while maintaining the standard of full high-speed of internet.

How to start using or upgrade to HTTP/2?

Guys, just follow the steps below to set up HTTP/2 for your website.

In the first step, you need to ensure that your HTTPS is enable. If it is not then you need to buy an SSL or TLS certificate from a valid authority. Now activate the security certificate and install it. And also update the website to enable the HTTPS protocol.

Now make sure the underlying network infrastructure server software support HTTP/2. You can update, configure and test your servers to support HTTP/2. You can also contact your web hosting provider to ensure that HTTP/2 is ready for your website.

The way forward

HTTP/2 is much secure and efficient protocol than HTTP. And enabling HTTP/2 to your site is the one step or simple process journey to improve the SEO performance or speed of the website. I have mentioned each and everything about HTTP/2 in this article, I hope you gained a complete knowledge about HTTP/2 protocol.

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By Monika Gola