What is an SSL?
If you’ve noticed, some website URLs begin with HTTP, whereas others begin with HTTPS. The ‘s’ stands for secure encryption, which can only be achieved by an SSL certificate.
Sites that request sensitive information from users, such as home addresses, financial details, and credit card information are notorious for this.
Visitors to your website are likely to have noticed it, even if you haven’t. Even the most novice web user today knows the risks of online fraud, which makes it more important than ever to check if a website has a secure connection (SSL) or not.
Many data breaches are occurring in the eCommerce industry, and they are growing at a rapid rate. It is imperative that every website owner strengthen their site’s security.
Visitors and customers to your website are at risk of their data being stolen when SSL is not in place. Without encryption, the security of your site is also at risk. SSL secures websites against phishing scams, data breaches, and other threats. Ultimately, it creates a safe environment for both site owners and visitors.
Non-HTTPS sites that request personal information is treated with caution by people, as well as by Google and other search engines.Â
Because Google wants to protect users from insecure websites, it’s taking SSL certificates into account when ranking websites. If you want to make money online, getting one is a must.
If you are still unsure whether to add SSL to your site, let’s discuss a few reasons why your website needs an SSL certificate.
What Is An SSL Certificate?
First things first: What is SSL? SSL certificates encrypt the data going from a user’s computer to the target website and back. With SSL, information on your website travels securely from the browser to your web server every time a user enters it.
How does this affect website owners?
Customers communicate with websites so that they can access information and buy products or services safely online. It’s essential for these types of activities to have a secure connection with an SSL certificate. SSL is fundamentally about making sure that anything that needs to be secure online falls under the protective umbrella of a certificate.
No matter how much you’ve done to strengthen the security of your site, it’s unlikely to be enough without SSL. It is okay for websites to operate online without an SSL certificate, but are you willing to take the risk that yours will be vulnerable to hacking? Most likely not.
All of our website hosting plans have a free SSL certificate included.
For the protection of your business and home computer, you could rely solely on antivirus software and firewalls. Today’s users are bombarded with malware; this is no longer the case. Anyone who runs an online business needs to think about how to secure the trust and confidence of their customers.
Keep in mind why any external party would want to get hold of your visitors’ information. Most likely, they will use the information to manipulate it or to commit identity theft. As a result, the website, or online business is responsible for actively preventing these measures from occurring. Your web services will be more reliable, your customers will be more satisfied, and you will reduce the likelihood of data theft.
Ultimately, SSL certificates are more than just a way to protect your customers’ privacy. Besides building trust between your business and your customers, it will also help to improve your reputation.
Key Benefits of Using SSL Encryption
- Users’ sensitive information is protected by encryption levels of up to 256-bit.
- Secures the users’ information against phishing scams and attacks with strong encryption.
- Provides website protection, reducing hackers’, eavesdroppers’ and man-in-the-middle attackers’ risks.
- Can positively affect the way Google evaluates your website.
- Secures shopping experiences – It is necessary for sites that accept payments.
- You can demonstrate your authenticity and improve your brand reputation by obtaining a Trusted Certificate Authority (CA).
- The green address bar shows the name of the organization (Only for EV SSL).
- ‘Secure connection’ sign increases the confidence of users and profits of your organization.
- Last but not least, SSL is more cost-effective. Consider the fact that a security breach is typically a legal issue, and that any compromised customer data could lead to substantial legal consequences for any companies affected by it. Taking preventative measures can prevent a lot of financial issues like these in the future. SSL will ensure that your web security is maintained both to protect your customers and your company.
Do I Need A SSL Certificate?
In one word, YES! These days, if you have a website without an SSL certificate browsers (such as Google Chrome) will show users a warning not to visit your site.Â
By checking the URL of the site you can easily determine if your website has SSL. Your website isn’t secure if the start of the URL is HTTP, but it is secure if it is HTTPS. There has been a trend of publicly shaming sites that lack SSL security in a variety of browsers. Browsers use different indicators to determine whether a site is secure. Chrome, for example, will display a ‘not secure icon in the browser bar, while Firefox will display a ‘non-secure icon.
If any of your pages are password protected, you might want to consider adding an SSL certificate. Websites such as WordPress or others with a login page for the administrator fall into this category. This login can provide access to anyone who has access to your site and can change your pages or take your whole site down. So, opting to secure pages like these should be a no-brainer.
Another case in which an SSL certificate would be useful is for websites with e-commerce stores. Hundreds of data breaches occur every day in the e-commerce world. Because of this, every website owner must protect their customers’ information through an SSL Certificate.
Final Thoughts
SSL Certificates are highly recommended for any business website.
It’s a must if you run an E-commerce, online service, or any other type of business where users must enter their credentials. You also need an SSL certificate if you are running a small blog or magazine website as Google now considers security as a ranking factor.
SSL certificates are available from many certification authorities and hosting providers.
We include a secure SSL certificate with all hosting plans to protect your website, your visitors, and your Google ranking.
