Keylime Toolbox can aggregate the http and https data together so you can both monitor the migration and generate historical trends for ranking, CTR, clicks, and impressions. These historical trends can include the time when the site was http only, the period of the http to https migration, and the post-migration https only period.
Note: If you are migrating only part of the site to https, contact us at support@keylimetoolbox.com so we can work with you to determine if property set data would be more useful than aggregate http and https data. If you are migrating the entire site at once, follow the steps below.
If you already have the site in a reporting group in your Keylime Toolbox account:
- Log into your account and go to Settings > Reporting Groups.
- Click the Add/Remove Sites link beside the reporting group that contains the site you are migrating from http to https.
- Click the Add a Site button.
- Follow the steps to add the site.
- If you sign in with Google and the https version of the site is already verified in Google Search Console, you can choose it from the drop down menu.
- If you choose manual set up, you can enter the https version of the site manually.
- If you are not changing the Google Analytics IDs, skip the Google Analytics entries (as Keylime Toolbox will continue to use the existing Google Analytics configuration for the reporting group). If you are setting up a new Google Analytics ID as part of the https migration, add this new ID detail as part of the set up process.
- Log into your Google Search Console account and add queries@keylimetoolbox.com as a user of https version of the site. If you included new Google Analytics ID information, log into Google Analytics and add provided@keylimetoolbox.com as a user of the new account, property, or view.
Keylime Toolbox will use Google’s API to download any available historical data for the https version of the site (if the site has just migrated, not much data may be available) and will aggregate that data with the http data in the reporting group. You’ll see one set of aggregated data in the reports but can also get data for the http and https separately in CSV files from the Downloads tab.
If you have aggregated subfolder properties into a reporting group in your Keylime Toolbox account:
- Follow the above steps to add the https property at the domain level (https://www.example.com).
- Do one of the following:
- Add all of the https subfolder properties to Google Search Console that corresponds to the http subfolders you have aggregated in the reporting group, then add queries@keylimetoolbox.com to each subfolder property. Keylime Toolbox will automatically aggregate the https subfolder data with the correct reporting group. (This option works best with a small number of subfolders.)
- Add queries@keylimetoolbox.com as an owner (rather than a user) of the domain level property (https://www.example.com) and email us at support@keylimetoolbox.com to let us know. We can then set Keylime Toolbox to add the https subfolder properties using Google’s API. (This option is useful for a large number of subfolders.)
If you have any questions about this process, just email us at support@keylimetoolbox.com and we’ll walk you through it.
If you have not set up the site in a reporting group in Keylime Toolbox:
- Create the reporting group:
- If you don’t have a Keylime Toolbox account, set up an account first. You can start with a free trial. The trial process will walk you through creating your first reporting group.
- If you already have a Keylime Toolbox account, log in and choose Settings > Reporting Groups > Create a Reporting Group.
- Add the http and https versions of the site to the reporting group by following the prompts to add them as separate sites:
- When prompted to add the first site, either sign in with Google or choose manual set up.
- If you choose to sign in with Google, you’ll see the list of verified sites in a drop down menu and can choose the http version of the site. If you choose manual set up, type the http version of the site in manually exactly as it resolves (with www or without).
- If the site uses Google Analytics, add the ID information when prompted.
- When you get to the Set Up Summary page, click Add another site to this reporting group and add the https version of the site.
- If the https version of the site uses the same Google Analytics ID, skip the Google Analytics entries for the https version of the site (as Keylime Toolbox will use the Google Analytics configuration entered for the http version for the reporting group). If you are setting up a new Google Analytics ID as part of the https migration, add this new ID detail as part of the set up process.
- Log into your Google Search Console account and add queries@keylimetoolbox.com as a user of both the http and https versions of the site.
- Log into Google Analytics and add queries@keylimetoolbox.com as a user of the account, property, or view (if the http and https versions of the site have separate IDs, add queries@keylimetoolbox.com to both).
Keylime Toolbox will use Google’s API to download any available historical data for both the http and https versions of the site (if the site has just migrated, not much data may be available for the https) and will aggregate the data together in the reporting group. You’ll see one set of aggregated data in the reports but can also get data for the http and https separately in CSV files from the Downloads tab.
If you are using Crawl Analytics
Crawl Analytics processes server log data and provides insight into how search engines are crawling the site.
If you are already using Crawl Analytics and uploading nightly server logs:
- Ensure the server log configuration includes the protocol with the fetch request (or generate separate logs for each), so that Keylime Toolbox Crawl Analytics can differentiate URLs requested for each. If this requires a change (an additional field in the file or an additional file), let us know at logs@keylimetoolbox.com.
- By default, Keylime Toolbox aggregates http and https requests into a single Excel file. If you would like separate files, just email us at logs@keylimetoolbox.com.
If you aren’t yet using Crawl Analytics
If you have subscribed to the Enterprise Edition, Crawl Analytics comes with your subscription at no additional charge. Just use our Crawl Analytics set up guide to get started or email us at support@keylimetoolbox.com and we can walk you through it.
If you already use Keylime Toolbox Query Analytics and would like to add Crawl Analytics, just email us at support@keylimetoolbox.com.
If you aren’t yet using Keylime Toolbox or don’t have a reporting set up for the site you’d like to monitor, you can choose to set up a reporting group with both Query Analytics and Crawl Analytics ($164/month) or with Crawl Analytics only ($49/month). You can email us at support@keylimetoolbox.com for options and next steps.
Our Crawl Analytics set up guide provides details on uploading server log files to Keylime Toolbox. When using Crawl Analytics to monitor a migration from http to https, it’s crucial that the server log configuration includes the protocol with the fetch request (or generate separate logs for each), so that Keylime Toolbox Crawl Analytics can differentiate URLs requested for each.
