Why you need a SSL to your website
SSL certificates aren’t just for encrypting connections. They offer multiple benefits to companies and customers.
This jorney starts back in 2004, when Google wrote about HTTPS as a ranking signal. However only since January 31 2017, browsers start to show the message “Not Secure” near the address bar, in website which don’t have Secure Socket Layer (SSL). This measure is taking action since Chrome 56 version, only on pages containing password and credit card input fields.
With Chrome 68 release in July 2018, this version makes HTTPS mandatory. Any website still being served via HTTP will receive a negative visual indicator that says, “Not Secure” beside the URL in Chrome’s address bar, or “Secure” if website has SSL certificate.
But, first things first, What is a SSL?
SSL was a popular protocol for encrypting TCP/IP streams over the Internet. SSL was first publically available in 1995 and the last version of SSL published was version 3.0 in 1996. SSL has been replaced by the TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol, which grew from the SSL 3.0 specification. The HTTPS protocol now typically uses TLS, although popular vernacular still refers to HTTPS as using SSL, which is not strictly true. HTTPS can negotiate the encryption protocols to be used and client/server negotiation converges on TLS in most websites today. in Arturai Website
So, with this all explained we give you some best reasons (random order) to buy a SSL Certificate to you website:
1- Improves Search Engine Ranking (SEO)
Since 2004 Google announced HTTPS will be a factor in its ranking. Google, like other search engines, aims to promote the links that are best for the user, and a website protecting the user’s privacy using HTTPS is better (for the user) than one that isn’t.
2- Protect Your Users’ Privacy
Let’s face the facts, in the last few years, and mostly since Snowden’s Leaks, and more recently Facebook vs Cambridge Analytica, has done more to get developers and users thinking about privacy policies and data protection than ever before. The risks and threats to ourselves, and to our users, are no longer theoretical; they are real, they happen everyday, and they are awful.
3- It’s Cheap, or even free
In Portugal basic SSL certificates costs around 50€/year, but if you are a webmaster and you are ok with servers Let’s Encrypt it’s a website where you can get a trustworthy SSL Certificate.
4- Gain Customer Trust
I can’t believe a red “Not Secure” near address bar can give trust to your visitors. On the other side when a user visits a website with SSL enabled, they will see a green “Secure” in the address bar meaning the connection is secured. These sign could lead to greater conversions and sales.
5- Will speed up your website
Not only the SEO is important to your page rank and better search results. Everyone knows Google privileges faster website. SSL combined with HTTP2 can save you some seconds loading your website.
The web has dramatically evolved over the last 20+ years, yet HTTP — the workhorse of the Web — has not.
If you haven’t heard of HTTP/2, it’s a new web protocol that makes your site load fast. It doesn’t remove the need to improve your website, but it can still provide significant speed improvement. You can see for yourself here and here a comparison of load times on a unsecure HTTP and encrypted HTTPS, by using lots images requests.
Hopefully the frequency is decreasing (thankfully), but I still sometimes hear, “oh, I don’t need SSL on my site because I don’t have an online store or a login portal…” I hope this article made it clear, you need if you care about your business. But please if you still think you don’t need, let me know why on the comments bellow.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading this, I hope you found it useful. If you have questions or something to share please drop me a line.
