Why Having SSL On Your Personal Website Is Important For SEO
Let’s say you visit a website. Your device and the website’s server are constantly exchanging data. If someone wanted to intercept the connection, your data would be at risk of being obtained by a malicious third party.
This opens doors to many forms of abuse, especially if you’re sharing highly confidential data (such as your bank card number).
And this is where cyber-security (and SSL, more precisely) comes in.
So here, we will talk about SSL, why it’s important for your website, and how it can help your SEO.
Let’s start!
Online Security Is More Important Than Ever
With constantly evolving forms of cyber-crime, online security has become more crucial than ever. You need look no further than last year’s data to recognize this. The Identity Theft Research Center (ITRC) reported the second-highest number of data compromises in the US in a year, with at least 422 million individuals being impacted.
No doubt, steps are being made towards maintaining digital trust and keeping the web safe for all users. Just take the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as an example. Coming into effect on the 25th of May, 2018, GDPR’s primary goal was to enhance individuals’ control and rights over their personal data, as well as to simplify the regulatory environment for international businesses.
Originally an EU regulative, GDPR has since served as a model for other global legislations. The more recent California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), for example, has many similarities with the GDPR.
Google has made important contributions to online security as well, establishing itself as somewhat an authority in cybersecurity. It should come as no surprise, then, to hear that Google announced that secure websites with an SSL certificate (to wit, HTTPS websites) might experience a slight search ranking boost.
More on that later! First, let’s see what’s the exact role of SSL in online security, and how it keeps your website secure.
How SSL Keeps Your Website Secure
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, and is part of the HTTPS (which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure).
SSL is the standard technology that secures an internet connection. It safeguards the data that is sent between two systems (say, your device and the website’s server), preventing criminals from reading and modifying it. This includes personal and confidential information, such as your bank card number or medical records.
The way it does this is by a specific method of encryption. It ensures that the data going from the user’s device to the website’s server stays secure and unreadable to any intruders. If an intruder happens to intercept the connection, he would encounter only gibberish. Thus, the information shared within the connection remains safely protected.
You can rest assured that having SSL on your personal website is a must. It ensures that your site gets verified and that it’s safe from malicious interceptions.
Now, an SSL certificate is a digital certificate that verifies a website’s identity and enables an encrypted connection between your device and the website’s server.
SSL Certificates are a security measure for websites that allow websites to switch from HTTP to HTTPS encryption. The importance of this will become obvious as we go on about how having SSL affects your SEO rankings.
Read more: What is an SSL Certificate and Why is it Important?
Does SSL Affect Your SEO Rankings?
As touched upon earlier, Google has always advocated online security. And in 2014, they announced that secure websites with an SSL certificate (i.e. HTTPS websites) might experience a slight ranking boost.
A lot has changed since then. Starting July 24th, 2018, began marking HTTP pages (the ones without SSL) as “not secure”. According to recent data, around 95% of websites on Google use HTTPS, and 99% of browsing time spent on Google Chrome is on HTTPS websites.
Thus, SSL has become the norm and is the bare minimum of responsible website management. SSL certificate has become a security standard and an absolute must have.
Note that the only difference between the HTTPS and HTTP protocols is that HTTPS uses SSL to encrypt and digitally sign normal HTTP requests and responses. HTTPS is thus far more secure than HTTP.
But what does this mean for you on the SEO-side of things?
For your website to be using the HTTPS protocol and thus benefit from the search engine ranking boost, you must have an SSL certificate.
And not only that. SSL will signal to your audience that your audience is safe and trustworthy. It builds trust and shows that you care about your visitors’ data safety. An SSL certificate thus contributes to your overall brand image and improves your reputation.
Read More: The Secrets of Better Rankings: SEO and Domains [e-book]
In Conclusion
No security precautions are 100% safe, However, SSL surely reduces the chances of security breaches happening, and all websites can benefit from it.
Regardless of whether you’re leading a company or developing a personal brand, you need SSL to make your website secure and thus show respect for your visitors by maintaining their security while on your website.
And SSL is free! So there’s really no reason not to install it.
Cheers!
