What is an SSL certificate?
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is created for the purpose of establishing secure connection between a website and a browser. This is done by encrypting the data in the transit, and making it impossible to read. SSL certificates are usually installed on the pages that require to secure sensitive information such as personal information, credit card details or passwords.
Websites that are secured by an SSL certificate have HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) in their URL. The website in which you are reading this article, has HTTPS in the URL, indicating that it is secured. You can click on the lock symbol on the browser bar, and view corporate name of website owner & issuing authority.
Why SSL Certificates Are Important For Your Website?
As discussed earlier, SSL certificates ensure a secure connection between a website and a browser, but it also has other various importance. Below are the importance of SSL certificates for a website.
Secures Sensitive Data
Well, that’s obvious because SSL was created for this reason. The information submitted on a website goes through more than one computer before reaching the last destination. In this journey, any third-party can obtain the access to the data. An SSL certificate, encrypt the data and scramble it. Even though, if someone gets the access to the data, he will not be able to read it. This is because encrypted data can be read only with the help of encryption key.
Elevates Customer Confidence
According to a survey, 48% of online shoppers do not trust a website without valid trust seal. In today’s world, security is the biggest concern for everyone, including your website visitors. If you don’t offer proper security, then visitors hesitate to make a move. Advantage of having an SSL certificate is the sign that you can display on your site. This sign acts like a visible security signal and improves the customer’s trust on you.
Necessary For Receiving Payments
An SSL certificate meets Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards. It securely processes credit card payments with proper encryption by inserting an industry standard 180 bits of encryption. In simple words, if you don’t have an SSL certificate, then you can’t process credit cards. Due to this reason, SSL certificates are popular in E-commerce websites.
Alerts For Non-Secure Websites
Since last year, Google Chrome is providing security alerts for users if no SSL certificate is found on the page, which asks sensitive information. This alerts discourage users to continue browsing on your website. World’s most-used browser giving security alerts for your website can drastically shrink your online presence.
Improves Your SEO Efforts
SSL certificates are not only important for security, but they are also vital for search engine optimization. Google gives preference to HTTPS websites over HTTP websites, as they are trusted and certified. Since Google is the most popular search engine, it is important to stay on its good side. Moreover, having SSL certificate can help you achieve a minor boost in search engine ranking.