Looking to add SSL to your WordPress website on WPEngine?
Follow these instructions below to get you through the process:
Step 1: Add the Free SSL to the Install
- Login to my.wpengine.com.
- Navigate to install that the SSL is needed for.
- Select “SSL” from the left-hand sidebar.
- Select “Add Certificates” button.
- Choose the “Get Let’s Encrypt” option (this is the free SSL).
- Select both domains (www and non-www) and agree to the terms.
- Once submitted, return back to the SSL portion of the install and wait for the confirmation emails.
Step 2: Set up the SSL on the Website
- Once the SSL is processed go, navigate back to the “SSL” section of the install.
- Click on the SSL for the primary domain (check if site is using www or non-www) and select “secure all URLs”. The entire site should be under SSL.
- Navigate to the backend of the website and go to the “HTML Post-Processing” section in the back end of the website. This can be found at WP Engine > General Settings.
- Enter this code (swapping out where it says “sitename”): #http://sitename.com# => https://sitename.com
- Adjust accordingly if the primary domain uses www, .net, .org, etc.
- Click Save.
Step 3: Check that Site has Green Padlock
- Open up the front end of the website and confirm that there is a green padlock. If the padlock is GRAY, it is NOT fully secure!
- Troubleshoot the errors by opening up the “Inspect” tool and select “Console.” This will show a list of all the non-https urls that are being referenced. Go through the site/pages until all of the URL’s have been manually adjusted.
- If you do NOT see the greenlock symbol, there is probably a direct reference in the custom CSS to http (or on a page).
- TIPS: Many times the footer image or any background images set up via the custom CSS cause problems. Make sure all image src links in custom CSS have https:// before them. Additionally, custom fonts also tend to cause issues. Make sure all paths to style sheet and fonts have https:// before them.
- Check site in incognito window to confirm green padlock.
- Once site has green padlock, the SSL setup is 100% complete. And your site is safe!
