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SSL – Why Your Website Needs It and Its Benefits for SEO

What’s in this article

SSL certificates bolster website security by encrypting data transfers, ensuring sensitive information like login details and payment information remains confidential.

As a website owner, it is your responsibility to ensure that your visitors are able to browse your site in a secure environment, without fear of their personal details being compromised. SSL certificates enable you to do just that. In this guide, we’ll teach you the benefits of obtaining an SSL certificate and the advantages it offers for SEO.

Firstly, what is SSL?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, a protocol that ensures your connection to a website is encrypted. SSL has since been superseded by TLS, which offers more advanced encryption while providing a superior level of privacy. TLS is now considered to be the encryption standard. Despite this, it is still commonly referred to as ‘SSL’. When SSL is implemented on to your site, it enables HTTPS (Hypertext Transport Protocol Security), a secure version of HTTP, which will be indicated in your web browser by ‘https://www.example.com’.

What are the advantages of obtaining an SSL certificate?

1) Improve Conversions and Sales

If a visitor attempts to enter sensitive data, such as personal details into a contact form on a website that does not have an SSL certificate, while using either of the most common browsers (Firefox or Chrome), a warning will display in the user’s browser address bar, indicating to them that the website is ‘not secure’.

For those who do have SSL enabled, the safety and security of their site can be emphasised to visitors through the use of an emblem that displays the type of protection that is present on the site. This reassures users that your site is safe to use and will remove any doubt they may have about entering their personal details, ensuring that you don’t lose any conversions or sales through questionable security measures.

2) Faster Loading Times

Website owners who acquire an SSL certificate can take advantage of HTTP/2, which is activated through HTTPS. HTTP/2 offers a range of features that enhance site performance. The speed of your website is a rankings factor, so this is another benefit of SSL.

3) Enhanced Security

With SSL, site data is encrypted through the use of HTTPS, providing high-level protection against malicious attacks and intrusions.

4) Better Google Ranking Performance

Website security is now a Google keyword rankings factor. Those who choose to acquire an SSL certificate will gain a rankings advantage over those who have yet to switch over.

Need help building quality backlinks to your site?

If you do wish to build links for your business site, get in touch with a trusted Gold Coast SEO company such as SEO Web Logistics, who provide eCommerce SEO services, Google Ads services and much more.

How do you get an SSL certificate for your website?

There are a number of steps required to obtain an SSL certificate and activate HTTPS for your website. The easiest way to go about this is to get in touch with a trusted web design company, who can take care of everything for you.

Final Word

In an era where credit card fraud and malicious cyber attacks pose a constant threat to online security, it’s essential that website owners do everything they can to protect their sites and their customers from potential harm. Obtaining an SSL certificate and enabling HTTPS for your website provides several important features, all of which are of strong benefit to your business.

Acquire an SSL certificate today and take advantage of HTTPS by contacting a trusted web developer who can set everything up for you.

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