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You are here: Home / blog / Is Your Website Secure – The SSL Certificate

Is Your Website Secure – The SSL Certificate

in blog, search engine optimization, small business owners, website, website readability on 06/01/20

Have a secure website so consumers won't be met with a security warningSeveral years ago it was suggested that you get an SSL certificate which would change your website from http:// to https://.  It would have a padlock before your website address in the browser address window stating it was secure. Many thought back then, self included, that if you weren’t selling anything on your website and exchanging information of a customer or client, that wasn’t necessary. I mean, after all, I’m not selling products on my site and when I do, it gets redirected to a third party site – like Paypal, Stripe, Square, or the like to collect the payment information. So, essentially, my site doesn’t need to be secure.

Not sure if your website is secure, you can check it out here.

That may have been true years ago, or seemed to be the case, but it isn’t the case.  With so many things happening on a website, it isn’t just about the information that is put on a website by a customer or the content itself but natural security of it as far as malicious and threats from hackers.

So here we are again, you do need to make sure that you upgrade your website to a secure website. So essentially you are buying an SSL certificate which, when installed, will render your site as secure, display the padlock and show you as https://YourWebsiteHere.com. Check a site’s connection here on Google.

How to get an SSL certificate

If you are lucky enough to have your own website developer – you will want to reach out to them first, if they haven’t contacted you about it already. Then ask them what they need from you in order to get your SSL certificate to make your website secure.Make your website secure with an SSL certificate

If you don’t have a website person, you can reach out to your hosting person or company. The first link above to check your site is one from GoDaddy. Please note, they are the Kings of upselling so be careful.  Plus, they charge extra for an SSL certificate and installation, whereas other hosting providers do not.  I have my hosting with Siteground and get my SSL certificate included with my hosting. Should you wish to switch to Siteground after your hosting contract is over, please use my Siteground affiliate link and get a great 3 year price which includes your hosting, SSL certificate, backups, plenty of web space and more.  I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about Siteground, GoDaddy and more.

What if I don’t get it?

If you choose not to do this the potential is that when someone does a search on Google, or other search engines, and they click on your Search Engine Result – your website may return this error, or one similar:

Be sure your site renders a padlock showing secure

An site that isn't secure may render a non-private message causing readers to leave

They will not see the section below the line, and would have to click on a button saying Show Advanced (now Hide Advanced is visible) giving them the option to click through to your site. However, with so much spam, hacking and malicious websites out there, do you think your readers, whether they know you or not, will want to click through and run the risk of getting malware on their site?

Google rates/ranks SSL higher

Not to mention that Google, and likely other search engines, are rending secure sites in search engine rankings over sites that aren’t secure. And per this blog from Google in 2014 claims https as a ranking signal.  This reasoning is based on https security being a better user experience and thus advised.

Get an SSL certificate for site security and so your consumers aren't greeted with a privacy/security warning. #sslcertificate #security Click To Tweet

Bottom Line

So again, be sure your site is secure in that you have your SSL certificate installed. This will ease the user of the security of your site, keep you in the good graces of Google and other search engines and provide a better experience for the user – your site loads without an error message.

Should you need help with your SSL certificate, a website redesign or even a startup website for which you can place your SSL certificate, I am happy to speak with you about any of these things. Please contact me and let’s have a conversation about how I can help your business.

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About Kristen Day

Kristen is a small business owner and thus dedicated to other small business owners by helping them improve their online presence with having a professional and mobile responsive website, then implementing search engine optimization and pay per click advertising all of which are necessary 'evils' in the digital marketing sphere but enables small business owners the opportunity to compete with larger companies. When not in the digital arena, you can find her hanging with her girlfriends, husband, drinking a margarita or shooting competition (not in that order).

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