Encrypted websites could get boosted on Google Search results

Google is considering giving encrypted sites a boost in search result rankings. The move, which would encourage developers to use encryption, is being pushed by Google executive Matt Cutts, and the company is in the “early” stages of a conversation about rewarding encrypted sites, according to the report. Google rewarding encrypted sites with boosted search results rankings “would be a wonderful thing,” Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer at mobile-security company Lookout, told The Wall Street Journal.

Tweaking Google’s search algorithm in favor of encrypted sites could encourage better security across the web. Google is considering giving a boost to encrypted sites in its search-engine results, one of its top engineers has hinted. Matt Cutts, an engineer in charge of liaising with website designers and minimizing spam in search, said that by doing so Google would make it harder for third parties to spy on Internet users. He was speaking at the SMX West conference in San Jose, Ca., Rewarding sites for adopting encryption “would be a huge step,” said search expert Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land. Cutts said encouraging encryption was important, because once sites had been hacked “We don’t have the time to maybe hold your hand and walk you through and show you exactly where it happened.”