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If a secure HTTPS page has a canonical tag referencing the HTTP version, will this cause the message in the browser that the page is using unsecure elements and prevent the green lock icon appearing?

e.g

https://wwww.example.com/

has the following canonical tag defined:

<link rel="canonical" href="http://wwww.example.com/" />

I know if that if other elements on a HTTPS page are called unsecured via HTTP you get the following warning in browsers:

enter image description here

As opposed to the lock icon:

enter image description here

Will this also happen if the canonical tag is using HTTP? I've read else where that it wont, but I'd like to see a live example.

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Web browsers do not care about canonical URLs. It is for search engine use only (specifically Google).

Additionally, canonical URLs do not affect the loading or rendering of a web page. So no assets will be loaded over HTTP which is what would cause an insecure error message.

So, no, they will not display any error message.

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  • Do you have an example? Even though its within a canonical tag, there is still http being referenced within the page code. So makes me think it may still see the http.
    – Max
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 1:58
  • Seeing and being pertinent are two different things. HTML tags have purpose. This tag's purpose are of no concern to browsers (just like meta tags).
    – John Conde ♦
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 2:02
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    The key here is to understand what canonical links are intended for, as specified in RFC 6596: The canonical link relation specifies the preferred IRI from resources with duplicative content, and only references its usage in relationship to applications such as search engines.
    – dan ♦
    Commented Jul 17, 2014 at 3:29
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It shouldn't. The unsecure warning comes about when a secured page incorporates non-secured elements. A canonical tag is a link, not an object to be incorporated into the page, so there's no reason why the padlock should care whether the URL it points to is http or https.

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