Know how to fix mixed content errors on your website

Hey! Facing problem-related to mixed content errors? Don’t worry we are here to help you in detecting and fixing mixed content errors on your website.

The mixed content errors occur when there are insecure resources on your website even after installing an SSL certificate on your web server. This can have adverse effects on websites.

There are two types of mixed content on the website namely “Passive mixed content” and “Active mixed content”.

Passive mixed content means content which does not interact with the rest of the page and helps to restrict man-in-the-middle-attack from getting intercepted by them or getting content changed by them. This type of mixed content includes video, audio content, images, along with other resources which don’t interact with the rest of the page.

Active mixed content means content which interacts with the whole page and helps the attacker to do anything with the whole page. This type of mixed content includes scripts, iframes, flash resources, stylesheets, and other code which browser can download and execute.

Read this article further as it will help you in solving your mixed content errors.

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All about mixed content errors.

Detect mixed content errors on your website.

Fix mixed content errors on your website. 

What is Mixed Content?

The mixed content error occurs when a website’s initial HTML is loading over a secure connection i.e. HTTPS connection, but other resources like images, videos, java scripts, CSS files, stylesheets, etc are loading over a non-secure HTTP connection.

When both HTTP and HTTPS content are been loaded to display the same page, which is initially loaded on an HTTPS connection. Mixed content also occurs when other resources are loading over a secure connection but getting to redirect to HTTP://.

Also Read: Switching from http to https

Due to such reason’s browser showcases an error of mixed content. So how can we see such mixed content on a website or how to find mixed content on a website?

Now let’s dig deep into various ways of finding a mixed content error on your website.

How to detect mixed content errors on your website?

Detecting mixed content errors is very simple, after installing the SSL certificate on your website you may notice there is no padlock. This can happen because you haven’t done proper redirection or there is a mixed content error.

Mixed content errors can be either detected manually if the website is small or having fewer resources that are not secure. They can also be detected through tools which automatically gives the list of not secure resources.

Finding Mixed Content through Manually.

• Visit the website for which you want to find a mixed content error
• Now use control+ shift + I on a keyword or simply right-click and select “Inspect”. A screen will pop-up with many selections.
• Now click on the “Console” tab next to the “Element” tab.
• After clicking the Console, all the other non-secure resources will be displayed here. (Refer to below image)

Alternatively, you can find in the website Source Code.

-Go to your website and press Control + U. Source code will open in a new tab of browser.

– Then find “http://” and note all the URLs starting with HTTP.

If your website is small, then you can easily find and note mixed content errors manually. But with a large website, you can’t find all the non-secure contents.

So here where tools come into picture which automatically detects all the non-secure resources on the website and gives you a complete list of URLs.

Finding Mixed content error through Tools.

• Why No Padlock: This tool helps in checking all insecure links on your website. Simply by entering the URL (in this pattern https://www.your_domain.com/secure_page.html), this tool gives you a list of insecure links on your website. It’s absolutely free and easy to use.
• Missing Padlock: This is also a free tool that allows the user to find mixed content issues on a website. It doesn’t provide accurate details sometimes.
• JitBit: This is an online tool for scanning insecure links on the website. It can be used for a big website such as more than 300 pages. It takes a bit of time to load the list of insecure links.
• Really Simple SSL: This is not a tool but a plugin for WordPress websites. This plugin from WordPress automatically scans all the mixed content and fixes it.

Now as we have analyzed and noted all the insecure links on the website so now what’s the next step.

How to fix mixed content errors on the website?

Now is time to fix all insecure links i.e. to make all the resources to https:// from http://. To fix this there are different steps demanding on the website type.

We have given steps of the most common website to fix mixed content on the website.

Fix mixed content error in WordPress Website:

The first thing you need to do is to install a WordPress plugin such as Really Simple SSL or SSL Insecure Content Fixer. It’s up to you which one you would like to install. If you don’t know to install a plugin, kindly visit this article on how to install a WordPress Plugin.

After installing it successfully, activate the plugin. Upon the activation, now to go to the settings and click SSL Insecure Content (or the plugin which you have installed).

On a click of SSL Insecure Content, you would see below image that displays with various options to configure.

• Simple: This is a recommended option for WordPress users. It automatically identifies and fixes the mixed content error in WordPress. It loads all scripts, media library images and stylesheets on https://.
• Content: If the sample doesn’t work then use this method. It contains all the features of Simple, plus it fixes resources in the page content and “Text” widgets.
• Widgets: It contains all the features of Content, plus it fixes resources that load in all WordPress widgets on your website.
• Capture: This method fixes every page on the website from header to footer. It automatically loads all resources with HTTPS. This method is a bit slower and can affect your website performance.
• Capture all: Use this method when all the above methods fail. This method fixes everything, it automatically loads every resource to https://. It may have a negative impact on your performance.

After selecting the above section according to your need, scroll down to the HTTPS Detection section. In this section, you need to choose proper HTTPS Detection for your website.

The default option for this section is the WordPress function for most websites.

Below options are suitable if you are using Cloudflare CDN, Nginx web server and many more. Select the appropriate method for your website depending on setup.

Now save your configuration by clicking on the Save Changes button.

Still, after configuration, you are facing mixed content error, then check using other methods through which you would be able to solve mixed content errors.

Fix mixed content error on the website (other than WordPress):

Below is the best way for fixing mixed content errors on the website which is not on WordPress.

It is very simple, just serve all the content via HTTPS instead of HTTP on your website.

Firstly, find all the resources which all running on http://.

Once you have noted all the insecure links, you must move all the links to https:// from http://.

Check whether the noted URL is available over the HTTPS connection by entering the HTTP URL in the new tab. If HTTP URL copied redirects to HTTPS, then you can change the resource from http:// to https:// in the source code of your website.

Note: All the resources such as images, scripts, videos, stylesheets must be load on a secure source. In the simple term, it should be secure with an SSL certificate.

The above steps can be done if the insecure links are less in terms of number.

If there are many insecure links, then you must run a script in the header file.