Website security is an important part of SEO and general trustworthiness of your sites, business or otherwise. Here's everything you'll need to know about SSL certificates, including how to make your website more secure.

1. SSL CERTIFICATES
What You Should Know About
by Henry Glover

2. Back in 2014, Google confirmed that
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) was a
lightweight ranking signal. Starting in
July, Chrome will begin showing risky
sites as “Not Secure” in the browser
bar. Considering, it’s logical to
assume that SSL has moved from
lightweight to having a bit more effect
on “PageRank.”

3. In my opinion, security
follows that same logic as
Warren Buffet's quote
about trust:
“Trust is like the air we
breathe. When it’s present,
nobody really notices. But
when it’s absent, everybody
notices.”

4. It’s a big deal that Google is bringing
attention to the security status of a site
rather than omitting it. I would call it a
battle of “omission vs. admission,”
where a browser admits to you that a
website is secure, but omits the fact
that a website could have potential
security risks, instead of the other way
around. Transparency online is
changing to where security has a
displayed binary value.

5. To borrow from Shakespeare’s Hamlet…
“To be [secure], or not to be [secure], that is the
question.”
Spoiler alert: the answer is to BE
SECURE! Even if a website doesn’t
handle private information, seeing the
words “Not Secure” from your browser
via the corner of your eye impacts a
reader’s subconscious opinion about
the credibility of the writer, blog, or
company.

6. After all, it is Google basically telling you…
“Hello! We are one of the most technologically advanced
companies in the world and you trust us! By the way…
The website you’re about to click on doesn’t care about
our recommendations. We care about you, so we want
you to know what you are getting into when you view
this site. Take it for what it is worth ;)”

7. W i l l t a k i n g
a d v a n t a g e o f
S S L b e n e f i t s
b e a f i n a n c i a l
b u r d e n ?
To be honest, not really. There are many
options no matter how you host your website.
For example, if you host just about anywhere,
you can redirect your content through
Cloudflare’s servers and traffic will be redirected
through a free SSL certificate. This is my
preferred method, and Cloudflare makes setup
very easy.

8. Another free resource is Let’s Encrypt, which
is an open source Certificate Authority
sponsored by many of the world’s top tech
companies, like Facebook, Cisco, Mozilla, and
Github (to name a few). Let’s Encrypt has an “I
know what I am doing” way of installing. You
could also choose to work with the hosting
provider that supports their platform.

9. If you host on a provider that doesn’t
support Let’s Encrypt, like GoDaddy,
and you don’t use the Cloudflare
method, then you probably need to
purchase an SSL from a reputable
certificate authority like GoDaddy,
GeoTrust, Comodo, DigiCert, or
Symantec.
These might require some tech
knowledge, but you'll have access to a
knowledgeable support staff since
you're paying for the service.

10. If you want to ensure both Google’s bots
and your website’s visitors that your
website is safe and secure, SSL is the way
to go. With easy, affordable options at your
fingertips, there’s no time like the present.
Taking action now could eliminate the
potential for your website’s credibility to be
tarnished by a “Not Secure” mark.

11. T H A N K Y O U !
F O R C O M M E N T S O R Q U E S T I O N S :
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