The Benefits of SSL

The internet can be a very technical place. Part of our mission is to explain the technical aspects in plain English. If you’re interested in the tech side of SSL you can find endless articles with a Google search. If you want to know a little about SSL but MORE about how it can benefit you, read on.

The SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Protocol has been around since 1994 and its importance grows every year. Its main purpose is to encrypt data sent over the internet. The easiest way to see if a website you’re on is using SSL is to check the address bar for the padlock icon and ‘http://’ just before the domain name.

The Myth

It is typically thought that the only sites that benefit from an SSL certificate are those that offer e-commerce. There is some truth to that line of thinking. After all, an SSL certificate should definitely be in place when making financial transactions online. However, you don’t need to sell things on your site to get an SSL certificate.

There are many benefits that come along with installing an SSL certificate on any website.

Google Recommends It

Technically, nobody owns the internet. But there are certain companies that have a huge influence on how it is experienced by millions of people. Google, of course, is one of those companies and when they recommend doing something it would be unwise to ignore it.

In 2014, Google stated it is, “taking into account whether sites use secure, encrypted connections as a signal in our search ranking algorithms.”

Will SSL boost your ranking in search results? No, not by itself. It is one of hundreds of signals Google uses. However, it does help as part of your site’s overall SEO approach.

Performance

The internet is always evolving and one of the biggest changes took place recently. HTTP/2 was officially introduced in early 2015. This is the first update since 1999 that changes how your browser communicates with websites, and it improves their loading time.

Again, we won’t get into all the technical details. The simple explanation is that in order to take advantage of all that HTTP/2 has to offer you need two things, an SSL certificate and great hosting. We offer both!

Here’s a great demonstration of HTTP vs HTTPS. One of the primary reasons you see such a difference in load time is because the HTTPS version is taking advantage of HTTP/2.

Improved Security

The entire idea of SSL is to provide a secure way to interact with websites. Even if you’re not selling goods or services online you may have people filling out contact forms or logging into the backend of your site (like us).

All of this information is transmitted openly, unless your site has SSL. SSL encrypts the information, making it much more secure and more difficult to decipher.

Build Trust With Visitors

Building relationships with customers is important to long-term success. Part of that comes from being able to trust each other.

Let’s be honest. Is a padlock icon in a browser going to instantly build trust? No. But there’s a good chance that if your website is the first point of contact a person has with your company, it’s going to let them know that you take their privacy seriously. Not a bad way to start a relationship, right?

There’s No Reason Not To

As you’ve learned, there are a number of benefits that come from having an SSL certificate on your site. There’s really no reason not to.

The best part? It’s free for our clients!