Google recently posted a very enthusiastic post about HTTPS. If you’re a marketgoo user, you know we check whether your site has an SSL certificate because it plays a part in your search engine ranking and is especially important if you sell any product or service through your website. Early this year we already recognised the importance of secure connections and have made improvements in detection and customer support regarding SSL questions.
If you don’t know what HTTPS and SSL are, in short they tell the outside world that your website offers a secure connection (so it helps with your credibility among site visitors). An SSL certificate functions as a digital public certificate- verifying that your business owns the website which is being accessed. What does this mean? When your site visitors go to your site and they see that you have a valid SSL certificate, they will know they are at the right place and that no-one is trying to impersonate your site. You can see how this could influence a visitor’s decision on whether to make a purchase through your site, or sign up to your newsletter with their information.
Additionally, we know, because Google told us, that secure connections contribute positively to the user experience offered by a site. So basically, put this on your to-do list because it’s a no brainer.
And what of HTTPS? The hacker lexicon over at Wired has us covered with a great explanation: “When you visit a regular HTTP website, the web server responds to requests from your browser and simply hands over the website’s unencrypted data. When you visit an HTTPS site, your browser and the server first perform an exchange of cryptographic keys. Those keys allow the server and browser to send messages only the other one can decrypt, locking out all eavesdroppers.”
So, what can you do to keep up with Google’s announcement that security is more important than ever? Check if you have an SSL certificate on our Free Website Report, and check with your hosting provider if they have any offers for you to acquire a certificate and make the switch to https. If you’d like to know about whether you need one and how to get it on your specific platform, here are some resources to see how Squarespace and SSL work, Wix’s answer to whether it allows users to add SSL certificates, Weebly talking about which of their plans have SSL included, and finally some straightforward instructions on how to move to https on WordPress.
Here’s to a more secure web!
