You may have heard of an SSL certificate but what is all that techno-mobo-jumbo all about? It’s actually a really simple concept and one that you really need to have for your website. So after all what is an SSL Certificate?
Simply put, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and it is a digital certificate that verifies a website’s identity and allows for the website visitor to establish an encrypted (secure) connection to your website.
SSL Certificates create an encrypted link between a web server and the web browser. Every website lives on a webserver until you type in a URL to access it via a web browser, such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, once you request the files from the server they are downloaded via your web browser.
The SSL certificate allows for the secure and safe download of those files from the server to the user so no one can interpret the information in between. This is why it’s so important to have SSL for financial information and eCommerce transactions.
You wouldn’t want your credit card information or even your personal address and phone number to be intercepted by hackers using malicious code on a website.
SSL certificates help stop that from happening because without the decryption key even if the data was intercepted it could not be read.
SSL Certificate and SEO
Google has even jumped on the secure site train and has come out and stated that they are considering secure sites as one of their ranking factors.
So not securing your entire website with SSL means you could be giving up solid ranking positions in Google and other search engines.
If people can’t find your website then you are really wasting your website’s marketing potential. If you want to learn more about SEO check out our what is SEO article.
SSL Certificate Wrap Up
While all this sounds very complicated it’s quite simple. There are many tools on the web that make securing your website simple and are even free.
.If you have any questions and want professionals to handle the securing of your website let us know and we can surely help you out!