Google has announced that users will begin to see warnings when faced with an insecure website. In my opinion this makes it mandatory for your website to be setup with an SSL certificate.
It’s a relatively inexpensive process and many of the better web hosting providers will generate a certificate by Lets Encrypt (which Google now has an interest in) for free. You have to know what you’re looking for, but when you do, the installation is usually pain free.
What does an SSL Certificate mean in practical terms?
Firstly it changes the beginning of your web address from http:// to https://. Additionally it gives your website that trusted green symbol next to the web address. If you don’t have your website setup with an SSL certificate, very shortly, you’ll be in the minority and it will stand out… just not in a good way.
The other benefit your website will receive from an SSL certificate is that Google has publicly stated that they consider it a positive ranking signal.
SSL Certificate Installation Tips
There’s one other thing to consider when setting up the SSL certificate. Usually your old domain URL will be indexed by Google. In order to make sure that you’ve retained the built up domain authority for your domain it will need to be redirected to the SSL version of your domain. E.g. http://www.mybusiness.com.au needs to be redirected to https://www.mybusiness.com.au. This also needs to be done using the least number of redirections for each possible combination. This is somthing that a lot of web developers miss.
There’s a few things to consider to have it done correctly and to make sure your website gets the greatest benefit from moving to SSL. This one simple change gives your users and the search engines a confidence boost that you’re conducting your online business in the most secure manner possible.
