# R9 | x-ai/grok-4.3 | run 1

## Prompt

Explain the practical difference between HTTP and HTTPS for a website owner, and cite a source.

## Response

HTTPS encrypts web traffic to protect data in transit while HTTP sends it in plain text, making HTTPS essential for security, user trust, and search rankings on modern sites. Website owners must obtain and install an SSL/TLS certificate for HTTPS, which now costs nothing with free options but adds minor setup overhead compared to plain HTTP.

## Security and Data Protection
HTTPS uses TLS encryption, authentication, and integrity checks to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, or man-in-the-middle attacks on forms, logins, and cookies. HTTP offers no such protections, leaving all transmitted data readable on insecure networks.

## SEO and Browser Behavior
Search engines prioritize HTTPS sites in rankings and penalize HTTP ones. Browsers display a padlock icon for HTTPS and flag HTTP sites as "Not Secure," which can reduce visitor confidence and traffic.

## Cost, Performance, and Implementation
HTTPS requires an SSL certificate and runs on port 443 instead of 80, with negligible performance impact today thanks to protocol improvements. Free certificate issuers like Let's Encrypt eliminate prior cost barriers for most owners.[[1]](https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ssl/what-is-https/)

## Follow-up
What specific aspect of HTTPS implementation, such as certificate options or migration steps, would you like details on?
