With today’s user-friendly website platforms, you don’t need to be a computer expert to have a website. Maintaining and hosting a website can be as simple or as involved as you wish to make it. However, there are a few things you should be aware of if you are going to operate a website for your business.
One of the most important and most overlooked features is the SSL certificate. This is the certificate that proves the website is secure. Without an SSL certificate, it’s easier for information on the site to be compromised. This is especially troublesome for websites that collect personal data like personal contact information or credit card information.
You can tell if a website is secure because you will see https:// in your browser before the website URL.
So what’s the big deal with HTTPS and do you need it for your site? The short answer is, yes. Here’s why.
HTTPS Proves that Your Website is Secure
If you collect any personal information on your website, an SSL tag proves that your site is secure. Without this certification, any computer between your server and the customer’s browser can access the information on the site. In essence, a secure site protects the information being transferred between the server and the browser. With HTTPS, the information is encrypted.
This is critical for websites that collect personal data, but it is also appealing for visitors to the site because it proves that you care about security and that your website can be trusted.
What is the SEO Impact of HTTPS?
HTTPS is vital for e-commerce sites that collect personal information, but what about sites that don’t collect this type of data? You might think that an SSL certificate and having HTTPS at the start of your website is not valuable. However, every website would benefit from having HTTPS on their site because it will ultimately boost your SEO efforts.
A few years ago, Google actually announced that it would be giving a small boost to websites that include HTTPS, so it’s very likely that you will see this impact over time.
Additionally, HTTPS makes Google Analytics work better. How? When an HTTPS website refers a visitor to your site, the security data is saved. If you only have HTTP, that data is not saved, and referral sources will not appear. This means that using HTTPS will result in more data collection for your site and a better look at the analytics and referral sites over time.
Mobile Sites Work Better with HTTPS
Today’s average internet browser is doing so mostly on smartphones and tablets. For the first time ever, the number of people browsing on mobile has exceeded the number of people browsing on desktops. So, having a mobile-friendly site is extra important. Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP, is a system created by Google. It helps content load faster on mobile devices, which is a critical SEO best practice. AMP only works with HTTPS sites, which is just one more reason to switch.
Switching to HTTPS is a moderate undertaking that requires working with your hosting company. However, once the process is complete, you can start taking advantage of the benefits right away and enjoy the peace of mind knowing that your customers and website visitors are protected.
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