Identifying Non-HTTPS Links in Linkilo

Why this matters

HTTPS isn't optional anymore. Google ranks HTTPS sites higher, browsers flag HTTP pages as "Not Secure," and users trust HTTPS more. Your own URLs should all be HTTPS — but it's easy for HTTP links to sneak in:

• A writer pastes a URL like apple.com without the https:// and your editor doesn't normalize it
• An older article was written before HTTPS was standard and still references HTTP versions of external sources
• A writer trying out a new source uses a non-HTTPS site that should probably be replaced

What Linkilo's Non-HTTPS report shows

• Site-wide: Linkilo → Reports → Non-HTTPS Links lists every post with at least one HTTP link
• For each one, the report shows the source post and the offending HTTP URL

How to fix them

For each flagged link:

1. Try the HTTPS version first. Most sites have HTTPS available — just swap http:// for https:// and check the page loads.
2. If HTTPS isn't supported, decide: – Is this an authoritative source you really need? Probably not — replace it with a comparable HTTPS source. – Is this an old archived page you're citing for historical reasons? Mark the link rel="noopener" and accept the risk, or remove it.

Bulk fixing

If a single domain you reference frequently has moved to HTTPS, use Update URL to bulk-replace http://that-domain.com/ with https://that-domain.com/ across your entire site in one pass.

Why we include this in the Summary report

Working with writers and editors means small mistakes slip through even with the best procedures. The Non-HTTPS report is a safety net so you don't have to manually audit every link.