SSL Certificates
Your website will enjoy instant credibility and trust when your customers know that your website uses strong SSL encryption to protect confidential data. If you are collecting any personal data on your website an SSL certificate is a must.
Search engines also give better search ranking results to websites that are encrypted with an officially recognised SSL Certificate.
What is an SSL Certificate?
SSL Certificates are small data files that digitally bind an encryption key to a domain and/or organisation. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock symbol and the https protocol to provide secure connections from the web server to a visitor’s browser. It is typically used to secure credit card transactions and logins, and more recently the browsing of social media sites.
Why Do I Need An SSL Certificate?
SSL Certificates protect your sensitive information such as credit card information, user names and passwords etc. It also keeps data secure between servers, increases your search engine rankings, builds customer confidence and improves conversion rates.
The Google Algorithm Update
Without an SSL Certificate, website owners may not be viewed as legitimate to new customers searching them online – resulting in a loss of search engine traffic. You will lose traffic, people will be scared away – and worse, they will go to your competitors who do have a secure website.
Google® has been applying a ranking boost of up to 5% to pages that use an SSL Certificate since 2014.
In July 2018, Google is releasing the latest version of Chrome that will list all HTTP sites as “not secure”, which makes it more important than ever to have an SSL certificate.
