24 Sep 2023
An SSL certificate is usually provided by your web host. After that, they leave it up to you or a professional to make the necessary changes to your WordPress website.
If you’re certain that your HTTPS certificate is enabled by your web host, you can proceed with setting up WordPress.
Does your website have a certificate?
Test your certificate by entering your website address with https://
If you see the following, your website doesn’t have a certificate:
If you see a green lock icon or a green bar in your browser, then you have a certificate.
Preparing WordPress for HTTPS
The easy way
Go to Settings » General in your admin panel.
Change http to https.
(Don’t forget to save.)
If you can no longer access this address because your .htaccess file or your web host has already redirected your website to HTTPS, you can make this adjustment via PhpMyAdmin. This is a program that runs on your server and is provided by most web hosts.
Changing to HTTPS via the Database
This requires some additional login information.
You can find the username and password for your database in your WP-config.php file (via FTP on the server).
You also need an address for the PhpMyAdmin program (usually accessible through your hosting panel or in Plesk/Directadmin).
Once you’re in the database, go to: wp-options and update the URLs for siteurl & home (See the image below, but of course with your own addresses!)
If you’ve done this correctly, you can log back into WordPress, and your website will be accessible via HTTPS!
Are your images and some pages not visible?
In that case, not all links have been updated, and you can use the Better Search & Replace plugin to do so.
Find it too complicated to switch WordPress to HTTPS?
The above steps can be complicated if you don’t have experience with FTP or PhpMyAdmin.
You can send us an email with your Directadmin or hosting details, and we will set up HTTPS for your WordPress website!
