How Many Versions of a Property in Google Search Console?

In Googles Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) it's recommended to add your website property twice, one that includes the prefix www, and once without the prefix. So now you have two properties.

At this point, you essentially have two domains, so it's important to tell Google what your preferred domain is. You do this by clicking into each property, and following this path: Click the Gear icon => Click Site Settings => Then select your Preferred Domain.

Now that Google has recently raised the bar by adding site security to their ranking metrix, the importance of adding site security to our sites has become more important. We're in luck that Wealthy Affiliate has provided that capability, free of charge. It only takes a couple of simple steps on each of our sites to implement.

Check out Carson's post of January 04, 2017, entitled 'Free SSL for Everyone - Encrypting Your Sites Has Never Been Easier' that details how to add it to your sites.

That's fantastic, by the way! ...and much appreciated.

This changes the URL prefix of our sites from http:// to https://

So part of the process is to add the https:// version of this property to Google Search Console, and then again, set the preferred domain.

I remember reading here in WA, that it's also recommended to keep both property versions, http:// and https:// within your Search Console.

So in doing this,it brings up a serious question in my mind. In Google Search Console, am I supposed to have four properties for every website I own? One property for each of the following prefixes?

http://

http://www

https://

https://www