Resolving SSL Issues in WordPress: A Step-by-Step Guide
Have you seen the 'Your website has SSL issues" in WP Umbrella or Wordpress Site Health?
Addressing SSL issues is crucial for maintaining the security and integrity of your website and that's why our security monitoring feature warns you when your website has SSL issues.
This article will provide a detailed walkthrough for identifying and resolving common SSL problems, including expired certificates and mixed content issues.
Prerequisites:
- Access to the WordPress admin area.
- Basic understanding of SSL certificates.
- Optional: Access to an SSL checker tool like SSLShopper.
Understanding how the SSL issue monitoring works in WP Umbrella
The way we monitor the status of the SSL certificate is basically checking if the SSL certificate is valid, or if there are any mixed URLs. If you see a warning for "SSL issues", it means that:
- Your SSL certificate may be expired, which would mean your website is not being served via HTTPS
- Your website has mixed URLs, involving both HTTP and HTTPS links.
Steps to Follow
Step 1: Checking Your SSL Certificate
The first thing you should check is whether or not your SSL certificate is valid, expired or non-existent (very rare these days!). A simple check can be done by opening your website using the "https" protocol to see if a green-lock is displayed in the browser's URL bar.
By clicking the green-lock, you can obtain more information about the SSL certificate, as well as it's validity. Another option would be to use an online checker, like SSLShopper tool. Simply enter your domain name and you'll see the information about the SSL certificate in place, such as issuer, and when it expires:
In case you are seeing a message that your SSL certificate is not installed, or expired, you'll need to have your SSL certificate installed from your hosting provider.
If your SSL certificate is installed and valid, it probably means that you are facing this issue due to mixed URLs.
Continue reading below to understand this and have the URLs fixed.
Step 2 : Fixing Mixed URLs
When you encounter mixed URL issues in your WordPress site, it indicates that some of your website's URLs are not loading with the "https" protocol and are instead accessible via "http". This can lead to security warnings and affect your site's credibility.
Initial Steps for Fixing Mixed URLs
The first thing to do, is open your WordPress admin area, and navigate to Settings -> General. In this page, look for WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL). You will need to make sure that your domain is specified to work with "https" as a protocol.
Here's an example of a tricky situation where the issue would be appearing:
As you can see on the screenshot above, both URLs are with "http" and this will be causing the alert. A simple change to "https" should resolve the issue. The correct settings would be:
Note: Make sure that both of the URLs must be changed to https.
What If "https" Is Already Configured?
If "https" is already in place and issues persist, the problem might be due to residual "http" URLs in the database.
The Tools -> Site Health section in WordPress can help identify and resolve any remaining SSL-related issues.
Final Thoughts: I'm Still Getting The Warning At WP Umbrella?
In summary, if you have addressed and resolved the SSL issues on your site but continue to receive a warning on the WP Umbrella dashboard, it may be due to the system's automatic scanning process, which occurs every 6 hours. This might result in the display of outdated information. To update the system, simply visit your website or project within WP Umbrella, navigate to the Security tab, and click on the "Scan your website" button.
his action will prompt a new scan, ensuring that any resolved issues are recognized and the warning is removed. Should the warning persist after this process, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our team is ready to assist you with any further queries or concerns you may have.