HTTP or HTTPS? Is changing to SSL worth the effort?

[djbaxter]

Last year, Google came out with a push for ALL websites to switch over to HTTPS: HTTPS as a ranking signal.

However, even in that post, Google said:

For now it's only a very lightweight signal?affecting fewer than 1% of global queries, and carrying less weight than other signals such as high-quality content?while we give webmasters time to switch to HTTPS. But over time, we may decide to strengthen it, because we?d like to encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.

They also addressed the question in a YouTube video:

[video=youtube_share;cBhZ6S0PFCY]http://youtu.be/cBhZ6S0PFCY[/video]

From my own research, apart from the expense and the headache of getting everything working correctly (and all that goes with that including potential losses in SE indices if you mess something up), it really doesn't seem like you stand to gain enough to make it worthwhile, and it's not hurting rankings for sites which haven't converted. At least, not yet.

What is your take? Have you converted to HTTPS? Are you planning to?

 

[patco]

If it's a website about Affiliate marketing, then there is no reason trying HTTPS... If we have an ecommerce website where we sell things online (just like Amazon!), then it's a MUST!