What is the Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS ? – The Unknown Facts

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Published By Jamie Kaler
Rollins Duke
Approved By Rollins Duke
Published On November 16th, 2023
Reading Time 4 Minutes Reading
Category Tips and Tricks

What is HTTP?

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, used in networks. In a web browser, each time you type a web address, your browser acts as a client and the computer system acts as a server. From the server, when the client requests any information, it uses the HTTP protocol. Once the request completed, the server responds to the client. Also, presented as a web page. Finally, when we enter the URL https://turgs.com/, this sends an HTTPS command to the web server to retrieve and transfer the requested web page.

Know More About HTTP:

  • HTTP originated by Ted Nelson in 1989. Moreover, its connection uses port 80 by default.

  • Http URL starts with http://

  • The First version HTTP – HTTP V0.9 introduced in 1991.

  • HTTP version 1.0 is specified in 1945. But, officially introduced in 1996.

  • HTTP version 1.1 introduced in 1997. Then, in 2015, HTTP version 2.0 released.

HTTP 0.9: The One Line Protocol

  • HTTP client request is a single ASCII character string.
  • The client request terminated by a carriage return.

  • The response of the Server, an ASCII character stream.

  • Its response a Hypertext Markup Language.

  • The connection terminated after the transfer completion.

HTTP 1.0: Rapid Growth & Informational RFC

  • The request may consist of multiple newlines.

  • The response object is prefixed with the response status line.

  • It is not limited to hypertext.

  • The connection is closed after every request.

HTTP 1.1: Internet Standard

Solve so many protocol ambiguities found in the previous version.

Introduced a series of critical performance optimizations, such as maintaining connections, fragmented encoding transfers, additional caching mechanism, byte range requests, and transfer encoding, etc.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It is a combination of two different protocols, such as SSL and TLS. Also, a more secure way to access the web. It is the safest way to send the request to the server from a client. In the case of HTTPS, the communication is purely encrypted, which means that nobody can know what you are looking for. The requirement for this type of communication is used to access those websites where security is needed. For example, banking websites, payment gateways, emails, and the corporate sector.

Some Important Points of HTTPS:

  • It uses port 443 by default.

  • HTTPS URL starts with https://

  • It was first used in HTTPS V1.1.

Why HTTPS is More Secured?

HTTPS is a secure version of HTTP. Here “S” means safe. It means that all communications between the browser and the website are encrypted. HTTPS is used for the highly confidential online transaction, such as online banking and online purchase order.

How Does the HTTPS Work?

To encrypt the communication, use one of the two secure protocols: SSL or TLS, TLS, and SSL. Both protocols use an asymmetric public key infrastructure system. Therefore, an asymmetric system uses two keys known as “Public key” and “Private key” to encrypt communications. Everything that is encrypted by the public key can only be decrypted by the private key and vice versa.

Private Key: As the name indicates private key should be kept strictly protected. Also, only accessible by the owner. In the case of websites, the private key remains securely ensconced on the web server.

Public Key: The public key is intended to be distributed to everybody. So, it is able to decrypt information that was encrypted with the private key.

Some Main Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP URL is http://

HTTPS URL is https://

HTTP is unsecured

HTTPS is secured

HTTP uses port 80

HTTPS uses port 443

Operates at the Application layer

Operates at the Transport layer

SSL certificate is not required

SSL certificate is required

Domain validation is not required

Domain validation is required

No encryption in HTTP

In HTTPS Data is encrypted

Google Opinion and SEO Advantage of Switching to HTTPS

Google officially announced when you move your website to HTTPS it will give you a small ranking increase. Switching to HTTPS will help you stay in good standing with Google. Security is one of the most important aspects. HTTPS is not only good for security. Also, refers to data and other SEO strategies. So, now it is completely clear that HTTPS offers more security. In addition, we will explain some of the benefits of SEO that are mentioned below:

  • Increased Ranking

  • Referrer Data

  • Security and Privacy

Wrapping Up

Security is everyone’s main concern in this cyber world. Therefore, it is important to fully understand the real difference between HTTP and HTTPS. Therefore, in the above discussion, we have completely discussed the same. So, if you are confused with the two terms, know the exact and clear difference between HTTP & HTTPs.