The Reasons Your Website Needs SSL

Web encryption has advanced from being a concern for businesses making online sales to an expectation of everyone who wants to be viewed as having a legitimate site. The padlock icon in the address bar should be a feature on the pages of major online retailers and individual bloggers alike. Consider the many reasons your website needs an SSL certificate.

Ensure Security and Protect Sensitive Data

If you're not a techie, you probably wonder, "What is SSL certificate technology?" SSL is a security mechanism to secure and encrypt communications between a client and a server. Without SSL, data moves through the web as plain text that hackers can easily gather and read. If a site visitor enters personal information on an unsecured site, someone else can intercept the data and collect it for their own purposes. Your SSL certificate removes the threat by encrypting the data transmission.

Improve Customer Trust

The SSL padlock validates your domain as legitimate and the connection as secure. Vigilant consumers may go a step further and click on the icon, especially if they suspect something is awry on your site. Your certificate can also authenticate your business and check the subject and issuer.

Certificate authorities (CAs) issue and sign SSL certificates. The CA also conducts a comprehensive check on applicants. If you're a registered business, the CA authenticates your company beyond verifying your domain ownership. This proves valuable if an imitator site phishing for data shows up. Visitors can verify that you're the genuine article with your SSL certificate.

Keep Your Site Running Smoothly

A slow and clunky website can send page visitors running away faster than security issues. Page speed also impacts your SEO. SSL certificates improve website speed since the latest secure HTTP2 web servers use a single connection as opposed to multiple parallel connections. Your pages load faster, and files transfer more quickly. 

Protect Your SEO Rankings

The leading search engines are noticing who has encryption and who doesn't. Google flags sites without an SSL certificate as not secure and drops your pages in search rankings, meaning your potential audience will have a more challenging time finding you.

Comply With PCI DSS Guidelines

Any company that accepts credit card payments online must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) guidelines. SSL certificates are one essential feature of compliance. If you do not comply, credit card companies can impose hefty penalties. A breach costs you the time and money to resolve the issue, and you may be subject to legal action by disgruntled customers. All of the effort and damage to your reputation equate to lost revenue.

Enhance Your Brand Image

A lack of web security can make a visitor immediately question your motives, and one catastrophic breach can wreck trust in your brand image. SSL certificates safeguard your visitors' payment details, addresses, and names. The "Not Secure" notice in the address bar now stands out like a sore thumb for sites that only use HTTP instead of HTTPS. The warning makes your site appear unprofessional, while an SSL certificate from a reliable certificate authority demonstrates you are reputable and have high standards for security.

Protect Your Site Traffic and Retain Customers

The security warning from browsers about unsecured sites marks the connection as not private and may display a frightening warning page. If this occurs, most users will head to your competition instead. Install an SSL certificate during site development so no one ever associates your page with danger.

SSL certificates for security on your website should be as commonplace as locks on your business and home. Bad actors take advantage of vulnerabilities, so you need to stay protected. If you haven't gotten your SSL certificate yet, investigate services to get yours immediately.