WordPress Easy HTTPS Redirect Plugin

WordPress Easy HTTPS Redirect Plugin tutorial shows you how to set up and configure your site for HTTPS security using this plugin.

Last Updated: May 29, 2023

Latest News: Fixed broken link.

Note: Before you begin you must make sure your server has the SSL certificate set up and configured correctly for your website before you begin using this plugin.

Easy HTTPS Redirect 1.9.2 changelog.

• Added rule to handle sites that are sitting behind a reverse-proxy. Thanks to @canadiannaginata for pointing it out.

In this post you will learn how to set up your site or some pages or post to run in HTTPS security mode using Easy HTTPS Redirect plugin. This is a simple and easy to use plugin that does a great job in securing your whole site or just some pages and post depending on your choice. Most people nowadays choose to secure the whole site, which makes sense. However some of you might only want to secure a few pages or post. For example: You might be running a shopping cart site and you wish to secure the shopping cart page and the contact form page.

What you need:

• WordPress Easy HTTPS Redirect.

WordPress Easy HTTPS Redirect Plugin

Information:

The external links (outgoing links) are not touched by the plugin. It only forces the URLs (static resources) that are used in an EMBED in your web page. So let’s say for example, you have embedded an image in your blog post. This image is coming from an external source. If that image URL is not using HTTPS then your full post is going to show the SSL warning (meaning it’s no longer a secure page).

The way SSL works is that you can’t embed anything using non-https URLs if you want the page to be fully SSL secured. So things like images, JS files, CSS files etc that are embedded in your site must be in HTTPS. there is no other way.

However, if you have a simple outgoing link to another site (for example a link to a reference page, an amazon product page etc.) and that link is non-https, that is totally fine. That link has no bearing in your page being SSL secured. So the plugin won’t touch that.

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Step 1 ) Go to Settings -> HTTPS Redirection as illustrated in the image below to set up and enable the plugin.

Step 2 ) First read the following message illustrated in the image, which is displayed at the very top of the plugin admin settings.

Step 3 ) Once you have read the above then carry on with the settings of the plugin. The plugin only has 3 options to set up. It is very easy but at the same time very effective. In the following image you will be able to enable the following options.

Plugin Admin Options

• Enable automatic redirection to the “HTTPS”
• Apply HTTPS redirection on:
• Force resources to use HTTPS URL.
• Click on Save Changes button once you have completed your settings.

Step 3-a ) Once you checked Enable automatic redirection to the “HTTPS” box the rest of the fields become active as illustrated in the image below.

Apply HTTPS redirection on:

• The whole domain = If you select this option, your whole site will become https secured
• A few pages = If you select this option, you can choose which pages or posts you wish to secure with https.  For example: You might be running a shopping cart site and you wish to secure the shopping cart page and your contact form page. The following images show you the sample-page added to the list. The pages and posts can be added by typing in the name and then clicking on the plus symbol. If you want to remove the page added, simply click on the recycling bin symbol.

Force resources to use HTTPS URL.

• When you check this box the plugin will force load HTTPS URL for any static resources in your content. Example: if you have have an image embedded in a post with a NON-HTTPS URL, this option will change that to a HTTPS URL. Note: Don’t check this box, if you selected A few pages option above.

Step 4 ) The following image Notice provides information for you, that allows you to troubleshoot any issues after activating the plugin.

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Troubleshooting Tips

Q1 Images are not displaying after I installed the plugin?

Solution: Make sure you have enabled the following option Force resources to use HTTPS URL as illustrated in Step 1 ) above.

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Q2 Some of my links are still showing as non secure in the browsers. How do I fix this issue?

Solution: You will have to check the URL address for the links that are broken in your site and make the necessary changes i.e. change http to https.

Note: This plugin does not control the URL address of a site. For example; www.yoursite.com or yoursite.com. This is done via your Host and you can also use Google Webmasters Tools.

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Q3 I have a page with an external http link in an iframe. Because of this plugin it gives me the error.

Solution: In modern browsers you can’t have non-https iframe on https page. You can carry out a small test by creating this simple html file:

<iframe src="https://newtracking.post.ir">

Then save it as test.html on your website and then access it via your browser – e.g. https://example.com/test.html

You will see the iframe content is not displayed and a warning is shown in the address bar of the browser saying that insecure content has been blocked. Only when you click that warning and allow displaying of insecure content, you’ll see your iframe content. (Solution provided by @alexanderfoxc in the following forum post)

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Q4 Could the plugin be updated to have an option to allow RewriteCond %{ENV:HTTPS} !^on$ [NC] to be used instead.

Solution: Enable the settings in the plugin then let it update the .htaccess file when you save the settings. Then you can manually update the .htacess file yourself and it will use whatever you have in your file. Remember when ever you click on save settings button, the .htaccess file will also get updated. This means you will loose your custom code, so make a note of this. You can read more about it in the following forum post.

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That is how simple it is to enable https security to your whole website, some pages or posts.

I will be updating this post from time to time. So keep coming back for the latest.

Enjoy.