Does My Website Need an SSL Certificate?

Author: Ruby Ava

Online security is a primary concern for many internet users as the number of cyberattacks targeting to steal information from individuals and organizations are on the rise. An SSL certificate is a mark of guarantee to show internet users that a website has secure encryption and that it's safe to use.

You might have noted that some of the websites you visit start with HTTPS or have a locked padlock on the address bar. These are examples of websites that have an SSL certificate. On the other hand, if you also have seen websites that only start with HTTP. These are those that lack an SSL certificate.

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Is an SSL certificate a must-have?

The answer to this question is yes; your website needs to have an SSL certificate. The 's" in HTTPS signifies secure encryption. Thus, if your website gets an SSL certificate, it means that it's safe for your clients to visit and even share their vital information like home address, credit card information, and other financial data.

In addition to this, major browsers like Firefox, Chrome, and Edge have recently launched a crackdown against websites without an SSL certificate. Google went as far as revealing that having an SSL certificate is one of the top considerations for search engine rankings. This means that if your site lacks an SSL certificate, it likely will rank among the bottom pages reducing its visibility and traffic. As a business, this can have a direct impact on your prosperity.

Advantages of SSL encryption

Every business leader's primary goal is to see their business succeed and having an SSL-certified website can help you achieve this. Here are the advantages that you can expect when using SSL encryption for your website.

  • Protection for sensitive information

Your website might be one of the primary areas of interaction between your business and its clients. This means that it may be holding a lot of sensitive information like your customers' login credentials, email, and phone contacts.

SSL encryption can help you protect this information from malicious access by cybercriminals as it can provide up high-level encryption for all the data on your website. 256-bit encryption is a top-notch security standard that takes advantage of 256-bit keys to protect data. Some computer security experts credit this advanced encryption standard for being practically unbreakable.

  • Protection from phishing scams and other cyberattacks

Phishing attacks can be devastating to a company's well-being. This cyberattack involves criminals posing as clients to gain access credentials of your employees to have back-end access. Having back-end access means that cybercriminals can launch more malicious attacks on your company and its employees.

Having a non-SSL website means cybercriminals can easily hack it and take it offline, cutting the link between you and your clients. In addition to this, having an SSL certificate for your website helps your new clients easily identify your legitimate website and avoid falling victim to phishing scams to malicious copycat websites.

  • Enables you to rank better on search results

Search engine optimization to help you rank better on search results is a time and resource-consuming undertaking. Even if you get your search engine optimization right, there is no guarantee that you will appear among the top search results. This is because your competition can have more resources than you, allowing them to finesse their strategy to outshine you.

Despite this, search engines like Google consider SSL encryption as one of their parameters for ranking websites. This means that having SSL encryption for your website can give you that boost that you need to get to the first page of search results.

As a small or medium-scale enterprise, you might not be able to conquer global search results, but being the best in local search results is a step in the right direction.

  • Provide your customers with a safer shopping experience

E-commerce has become the new frontier for SMEs that want to accelerate their prosperity. Whether your e-commerce front becomes successful primarily depends on the experience that you provide your customers. Customers will be more willing to be return clients if they have a smooth and safe shopping experience on your e-commerce storefront.

Having SSL encryption for your website makes it almost impossible for cybercriminals to steal your customers' financial information. Moreover, more internet users are aware of the basics of online security. Now that you are attracting more clients to your website, more of them will be willing to purchase from you if they see that your e-commerce storefront is SSL encrypted.

  • Win market credibility

SSL encryption for your website can help you win market credibility. You might be competing with other SMEs, which likely do not have SSL certifications for their websites. Having your website SSL-certified will help you stand out from your competition in the market.

The potential customers who are conscious about their online security will likely choose you over the competition. Now it will be up to you to work on retaining these customers for long-term prosperity.

On top of this, SSL encryption also proves your business's authenticity to any new customers who are yet to be aware of it. Once you have your SSK certificate, you can also apply for validation from Trusted Certificate Authority (CA), which will boost your brand's reputation.

Take your company's profits to the next level

Having SSL encryption on your website brings together a couple of advantages mentioned above to work in cohesion to take your profits to the next level. Firstly, your website will rank higher on search results; thus, you will have more traffic on your website. In addition to this, since you will be offering a secure experience to your customers, they can quickly trust your brand.

A good track record of your website never being hacked is also great. As a result, you will have much easier time retaining your new customers. An excellent customer retention rate while having a consistent number of new customers means that your sales will keep rising. The increased sales will result in next-level profits, and things will keep getting better.

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