Should I install an SSL certificate on my website?

The simple answer is yes! 

But what is an SSL certificate and why do I need one? SSL certificates, or secure certificates (https://), enable a website to be sent from a web server to a visitors computer encrypted.

In the past SSL certificates were reserved purely for eCommerce sites to ensure customer information is encrypted and secure for transactions. However, Google has for some time now been using SSL as part of its ranking algorithm, giving preference to sites that have it. Initially on a small scale but more recently it is becoming more and more important in how well your site will rank.

If you use the Google’s Chrome web browser, you may have also noticed how some sites are starting to show “unsecure” near the address bar. Although we can’t be sure, we assume this will be a feature we’ll see more of, where browsers show such warnings to visitors.

So even if you don’t run an eCommerce website, we highly recommend you speak with your website hosting provider and ask them to enable an SSL certificate. Certificates can add a little to your hosting fees, but in our opinion is well worth it.

If you’d like to consider adding an SSL certificate to your website on our hosting or to move to our Standard monthly maintenance package which includes SSL by default, please get in touch.