5 benefits of SSL certificates

As malicious attacks become more widespread, aggressive and advanced, security is becoming more important than ever. While there are many ways you’ll increase the safety of your website, there’s a basic thing you’ll do to get the foundations of a secure platform – getting an SSL certificate.

What is SSL?

SSL stands for secure sockets layer. In practical terms, an SSL certificate provides a secure connection over the web – most ordinarily between a user’s browser and therefore the website they’re visiting. By encrypting that connection, it prevents interception of the info being transmitted over it, which comes with additional benefits.

How do i do know if I’m using SSL?

If you’re visiting an internet site that features a valid SSL certificate, there’ll be two obvious indicators. You’ll see a padlock icon within the address bar before the URL of the site:

And the full URL of the page will contain the letters ‘https://’ at the start , instead of ‘http://’:

It’s not a rarity either – over 60% of internet sites now employ SSL and HTTPS as their first line of defense. But what are the advantages that SSL brings, and why do you have to get an SSL certificate on your website?

5 benefits of SSL

1: Protect the info of you and your users

We’ve already mentioned the first advantage of having an SSL certificate on your site. By encrypting the info being transferred to and from the location with 256-bit encryption, it protects it from being read by anyone malicious who tries to urge access. albeit there’s a knowledge breach and a few of the info is intercepted, it’ll make it almost impossible to be understood thanks to the extent of encryption it involves. Your visitors can feel safe within the knowledge that their data is in good hands.

2: Reduce the danger of phishing

Those visual indicators we mentioned above also are key to preventing phishing. If you’re unfamiliar, phishing websites are false sites made by those that aim to steal user data. They’re often very convincing replicas of legitimate websites, and check out to trick visitors into entering their personal information. a legitimate SSL certificate on your website is a clear way of showing that you’re the important deal, which may help your visitors avoid phishing attacks.

3: Increase your program ranking

How highly an internet site ranks in program results is vital to its success. In 2014, Google announced that it might start including SSL and HTTPS as an element in its search rankings – and with numerous websites using SSL, the truth is that without a legitimate certificate, an internet site is extremely unlikely to rank highly (or at all). Google visibly supports and endorses the utilization of SSL certificates to secure your website.

4: Secure your customer payments

The encryption we talked about in point two also obviously applies to payment data. When your customers are sending their card details to your site, having HTTPS within the address bar shows that you’re encrypting and protecting those details. In fact, PCI (Payment Cards Industry) regulations require a minimum of 128-bit encryption on any payment data being transmitted, so if you’re taking payments from customers, having an SSL certificate is that the bare minimum.

5: Showing your users you’ll be trusted

We’ve said it already: in particular of these technical points, an enormous advantage of having an SSL certificate is that your customers know they will trust you. For those that use the online often, having the padlock icon next to your URL gives you legitimacy.

Without one, many potential visitors might simply avoid your site. Google itself adds to the present – if you are trying to navigate to a site that’s running on only HTTP using Chrome, you’ll be shown an intimidating screen with a warning symbol. It warns you that the connection isn’t secure.

It’s like having an enormous warning barrier outside a store , warning those trying to enter that they could have their wallet stolen if they are going in. Visitors to the location then need to click on a really small advance button to truly reach the unsecured website.

All of those factors break down visitor trust, which further impacts your program rankings – if users are leaving the web site without clicking on anything (bouncing), it reflects badly on your statistics.