Website Security Certificate: What is It and Why is It Important for Your Site?
When it comes to website security, few things are as important as a website security certificate. Also known popularly as SSL certificate, it’s a basic requirement for any modern website because of the risks involved in its absence. If it’s not installed on a site, not only the site itself but also its visitors are at a high risk of being hacked. On the other hand, if it’s installed properly then not only those security risks can be mitigated but also several benefits can be reaped by the website owner.
Today, more than 90% of internet traffic coming from Chrome browser is over HTTPS, and the reason behind it are all those benefits which make a website security certificate essential for all sites. What are those benefits? Let’s look at top 6 of them:
#1. Solid foundation for security
One of the first benefits of a website security certificate is that it puts a solid foundation for the security of your site. For every security measure that you’ll implement in your site it’s imperative to have an SSL certificate in place, otherwise all those other measures collectively can’t save your site from being hacked. Whether it’s use of strong passwords, installation of security related plugins, setup of real time alerts or any other security measure – a good quality SSL certificate (i.e. Comodo positive SSL certificate) is a prerequisite for effective operation of all of them. You just can’t ignore it.
#2. Improves your search ranking
Another benefit of a website security certificate is that it improves your search ranking. Sounds weird? Well, it’s a reality. Google has been using HTTPs as a ranking signal since last few years, and the reason behind it is the importance of these certificates for security of websites as well as user data. So, if your website isn’t loading over HTTPS but your competitor’s website is, the rank of your competitor will be higher than you. Therefore, it’s in your best interest that you install a website security certificate for maximizing the ROI of your search engine marketing.
#3. Takes you a step closer to being PCI compliant
If you’re running an e-commerce site (or plan to run it in near future), you’ll have to comply with Payment Cards Industry Data Security Standards, popularly known as PCI-DSS. Without complying with these standards, you can’t accept payments on your site, and one of the requirements of PCI-DSS compliance is having a website security certificate installed properly. Therefore, if you install it, you’ll take yourself a step closer to being PCI compliant. And it’s not just about PCI – if you want to comply with any security standards, you’ve got to have your website loading with a properly installed SSL certificate.
#4. Improves your site speed
Installing an SSL certificate also improves the loading speed of your site, because it allows your site to be loaded over HTTP/2, which is the latest version of HTTP protocol. It’s a major revision of the original HTTP protocol, and as a result it’s also way faster than the original HTTP. Moreover, when your site loads over HTTPS after installation of a website security certificate, it can also take advantage of Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology to load quickly on mobile devices. These two things – namely HTTP/2 and Google AMP – can collectively contribute a lot to the speed of your site, thus improving the user experience. Of course, having a well functioning website is also an important element for site speed. This website design company is well versed at creating great websites.
#5. Increases trust in your brand
A website security certificate shows that you take the security of your visitors seriously, thus increasing the trust in your brand. Web browsers reward you by showing a ‘Secure’ label and a green padlock near your URL, thus signalling security to your visitors. On the other hand, if you don’t install the certificate, your website loads with a ‘Not Secure’ warning label in Google Chrome and other browsers, thus hitting the trust of your brand. Therefore, having a website security certificate is essential to build a strong brand as well.
#6. Provides more accurate statistics
Google not only downgrades your search rankings in the absence of a website security certificate – you’ll also not provided referral data in Google Analytics if your website is loading over HTTP. Referral data is important to measure so you can figure out which of your marketing efforts are working, and you can’t fine tune your marketing campaigns in its absence. So, installing a website security certificate is also essential for you to get complete and accurate stats about your site.
Conclusion
So that’s why having a website security certificate is essential. There are many other reasons too, but these are the top few ones among them. Keeping them in mind, we would advise you to get a Cheap SSL Certificate installed on your web server as soon as possible. And in case you installed it, but it has expired, get it renewed without wasting time. All the best!
