What are the potential issues with removing HTTP/HTTPS from email deeplinks to prevent ESP wrapping?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Reddit responds that HTTPS provides an encrypted connection between the user and the server. Removing HTTPS exposes the user to potential security risks such as man-in-the-middle attacks.
Email marketer from EmailOnAcid Blog explains that some older email clients render links differently. Removing HTTP/HTTPS can create inconsistencies in how the email appears across different devices and platforms.
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains that some browsers might not correctly interpret protocol-relative URLs, which can lead to rendering issues or broken links for certain users.
Email marketer from Neil Patel Digital explains that cloaking links can negatively impact SEO because search engines might see it as a deceptive practice. It can lead to penalties or even de-indexing.
Email marketer from Quora shares that users are more likely to trust links that begin with HTTPS. Removing it can make links look suspicious, potentially reducing click-through rates.
Email marketer from Litmus mentions that by stripping out the protocol, you could negatively impact the way your tracking is interpreted, skewing analytics and potentially hurting your deliverability rates.
Marketer from Email Geeks explains that URLs without http or https may not work properly with email clients. They suggest using properly formatted HTML links.
Marketer from Email Geeks says that using a non-HTTPS link may be fine to stop wrapping.
Email marketer from Inbox Collective shares that removing the protocol from links is risky as some older email clients or devices might not recognize them, which will result in broken links and a bad user experience.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks states they wouldn't expect link wrapping to impact delivery.
Expert from Spamresource mentions that removing the https can make redirect and tracking impossible, and may degrade security, and could make it harder for receiver-side filters to function correctly.
Expert from Word to the Wise shares that using links which are just domains or IP addresses with no protocol can damage your reputation. Email clients will not resolve them to a website and it will look like spam.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Google Search Central shares that HTTPS is a ranking signal. Downgrading links to HTTP (by removing HTTPS from some) could potentially dilute the benefits and impact SEO performance.
Documentation from OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) states that HTTPS (HTTP over TLS) provides encryption and authentication. Removing HTTPS compromises the integrity and confidentiality of the data being transmitted.
Documentation from RFC 3986 explains that a URI should have a valid scheme (like HTTP or HTTPS) for it to be correctly interpreted. Removing the scheme makes the URI invalid according to the standard.
Documentation from Mozilla Developer Network explains that if the main page is served over HTTPS, browsers will block mixed content (HTTP resources) by default. Removing HTTPS from links might cause them to be blocked, leading to functionality issues.