SSL Certificate is a Must for Your Site Immediately
- March 20, 2018
- Bradley Taylor
With 90% of all internet searches done using Google and 50-60% of all internet users using Google Chrome as their browser of choice, it is imperative to optimize your site to their specifications. Google is always tweaking and changing their search algorithms to better improve the user’s experience. Most recently, Google has made it clear they want all websites to have an SSL certificate.
This certificate is a virtual certification that is installed on the server by the host that shows that the site is secure. In reality, it is just one small piece of security that may add to the visitor’s web safety (or at least feeling of safety). A secure website has less chance of being hacked through contact forms and other scripts running on the site.
If you do not have an SSL certificate then eventually visitors will start getting a warning message when they try to visit your site saying that it is “not private”. Not only that but Google will start burying you in the search results. It is a double whammy.
Tweet from Google CEO:
Important change to improve security – Beginning in July 2018 with the release of Chrome 68, Chrome will mark all HTTP sites as “not secure” https://t.co/hQVEoHoEBU
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) February 9, 2018
Do I Have an SSL Certificate?
It is easy to tell if you already have a certificate on your website. To the left of the url in the web address bar you will see that is says “https”. That means it is secure. It will usually show a green padlock or say the word “secure” as well. If you only see “http” in your web address, you do NOT have an SSL certificate.
You can actually click a few times and see who validated the certificate and see its chain of custody:
- click the “secure” text or green padlock to the left of the web address.
- Under “Certificate” click “valid”.
- click “certification path”.
You will now see a list of the chain of custody. You can then click each one and then click “view certificate”.
SSL certificates are usually about $50 a year for a general certificate. For a premium certificate (has your company name in green secured text area), they run about $150. Your web host will usually install them automatically if you are on shared hosting. Or if you are on a VPS (Virtual Private Server) you will need to do it yourself or hire a professional.
