Security is the name of the game for websites and SEO today. Google recently announced that starting in January 2017, Google Chrome will send up a warning “UNSECURE SITE” when visitors land on a website that requests confidential information and doesn’t have an SSL certificate. In the past, an SSL certificate was only required if your website was an e-commerce or membership site. Now, even if you have an informational website, keeping your website secured with an SSL certificate is a requirement.
Here’s how adding an SSL certificate can help your marketing and SEO efforts:
- Google gives ranking boost to HTTPS websites. Since 2014, Google has been encouraging website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS by giving a ranking boost to those sites on HTTPS. Google has gone on record to say that this security factor will be even more important in ranking algorithms in 2017.
- Increase Your Website Security. SSL is the backbone of our secure Internet and it protects sensitive information as it travels across the web. Driving traffic to your website is pointless if the site is not secure and visitors feel unsafe.
- Build trust and credibility with website visitors. Web browsers now give visual cues, such as a lock icon, to let visitors know if the website has an SSL certificate. Visitors look for these items to know that they can trust the website and feel safe sharing personal information with your company.
Before installing an SSL…
Talk to a web development team who is familiar with website security and maintenance about the HTTP to HTTPS migration. If this migration isn’t handled correctly by a web developer, you can experience website downtime or redirect loop errors. Our team has setup SSL certificates on hundreds of websites and can handle the setup and migration smoothly for you.
Need an SSL installed or website security evaluation? Contact us to get started.
