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Do I need an ssl certificate?

People are asking “Do I need an SSL Certificate?”

Well once upon a time they were really only used for online stores! But now Google has made an interested announcement!

Website Security is pretty much at the forefront of every single thing we do on the internet today.  We are always thinking about how to make sites more secure, locked down.  One of the best ways to do that is through a secure socket layer or SSL.  A secure socket layer (SSL) certificate is a manger in which you can encrypt your site.  IT has become, in the search engine optimisation world, an absolute must!

Google Requires SSL Certificates

Google has turned the SSL certificates into something that every site has to have.  With one of the more recent algorithm updates that went in place on the search engine, it was made known that sites not encrypted with SSL will suffer.  Not having SSL will mean a hit to where they land in the rankings.

Google is also taking action to use HTTPS, a way to detect encryption of websites, as a ranking signal.  If you have two sites that have the same content, same brand recognition, trust with users, all of that, the site with the SSL certificate is going to rank higher than the other.

Chrome Displays

The Google Chrome web browser is more common than ever before as well.  Google is using that browser to go further into the offensive when talking about SSL certificates.  What they have started to do is to put out warnings.  Google Chrome is telling users that they are on a page that is not secure, something that is not HTTPS.

How to Get the Certificate

What is the best course of action to get SSL certificate?  There are many different options out there that you can use.  Three of the more common services out there include GoDaddy, Symantec as well as Geotrust.  All three of these have a variety of prices, but can help you get set up in no time at all.

There are also service providers out there that can get you set up with free options for an SSL certificate.  If you do your homework on the Internet, you will era able to track down some of these options pretty easily.

If your sites are hosted on cPanel server, cPanel now includes free SSL for all sites.

It doesn’t matter which SSL certificate you choose at all.  You could get the most expensive or the cheapest.  From the perspective of Google and the search engine rankings, you are going to have a site that is adequately secured either way.  This will help you significant regarding search engine rankings.  With so many reasons to move to SSL, even outside of just search engine optimisation, the time is now for all sites to take action!