Nowadays, more and more websites are moving from unsecured sites to SSL. There are mainly two primary reasons for this sudden increase in SSL sites. The very first Google is strongly encouraging the web to become a more secure place and has incentivized website managers to move to SSL by offering a “rankings boost” for secure sites.

SSL is a type of technology that encrypts data, ensuring that it stays secure as it passes along the internet through a computer to computer. This protects all types of data, from credit cards to email addresses and any other information that is collected by a website.

An SSL certificate is also known as a Digital certificate is issued by a certificate Authority, who authenticates the purchaser’s identity. This not only protects your data but lets users know that their data is secure from hackers and remains confidential.

Earlier, SSL certificate was needed, just to collect private and sensitive data like payment transactions on an e-commerce website. As the cybercrime ratio increased and growth in hacking activities, it has now become important to get protection in place.

Google has announced that amongst all other factors in line, enabling SSL certificate in the websites is one important factor for a slight boost in SEO ranking.

It is a small reward for the website using a secured site. To be in Google a good book, it’s important to convert a website from HTTP to HTTPS.

1. If the website is not secured, it will display a warning sign.
2. This eventually leads the visitors to leave the site.
3. Due to which competitors having a secured website will be benefited.
4. It’s now a vital as well as good SEO practice that can be implemented.

Now, Google is also making it a mandate to have secured websites, or it will remove product listings ads. If it is not an SSL certificate enabled.

1. It secures the payment data and other sensitive information.
2. Hence, it’s a must for an e-commerce website.
3. The payment transaction will be done with a secured website only.
4. It’s Google’s policy that the product listing or account shall be compliant with local laws.
5. If a certificate is not linked with shopping cart sites, it may be considered as a rules violation.

Are certificates important for all websites?

It may seem that having an SSL to protect data is only critical for websites that are collecting very sensitive information, like credit card numbers used to purchase from e-commerce websites. While this has definitely become an important thing for securing personal information, so it is increasingly important for all websites to employ such security.

For a start-up, employing an SSL certificate on your website acts as a symbol of trust to your users. Even a new user to the internet realizes that data breaches and online fraud are on the rise. Having a symbol of security and authentication lets your users know about you and your website, and any data that might be collected will be kept secure.

In addition, for a ranking factor, search engines like Google and Yahoo / Bing have begun using the presence of an SSL Certificate as a ranking factor. This means that having a secure website will aid in your SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

How SSL impacts a website’s SEO

There are both direct and indirect impacts to a website’s overall SEO stemming from the presence of an SSL certificate.

Ranking on organic searches and conversion rate efficiency has become almost a subject of its own. Commonly referred to as search engine optimization (SEO), it is really all about being relevant and attractive to users and getting attention from the community.

Factors contributing to high SEO performance is termed ranking signals. Even though it is difficult to isolate the importance of each ranking factor, Google as early as in 2014 announced that “SSL everywhere” is a priority for the company. Securing sites with SSL thus became a ranking signal and the amount it affects your ranking is likely to increase over time.

The approach of securing the whole site with SSL, stressed by initiatives such as Always-On SSL (AOSSL), is a way of enhancing the whole web experience, and at the same time, providing more protection against attacks potentially exploiting unsecured parts of the website (i.e. session hijacking or side jacking). Since many users access the Internet on public shared WIFI hotspots, it has become even more important to secure the whole web site.