SSL Certificate – Do I Need One?

Do I Need an SSL Certificate for My Site?

In an age where anything can be bought on the internet and people are shopping online more than ever, security is paramount. One of the most popular options for securing your site is the SSL certificate, offered by many hosting providers as well as third party sites. They are simple, economically friendly, and a sign that your site can be trusted. This means that if you’re selling products online – or even just collecting data from customers – you should highly consider a SSL certificate.

SSL padlock

What is an SSL Certificate?

An SSL Certificate, or Secure Sockets Layer Certificate, is a form of security technology that protects information entered on websites. When information is sent by the user through the website, the information can be intercepted, read, or tampered with if it is not protected. Fortunately, the SSL protection will encrypt the data that is being transferred, heavily decreasing the risk of tampering. SSL certificates are very popular because they act as a symbol of trustworthiness online for visitors, denoted as a green lock or shield in the address bar on many browsers.

Benefits for Store Owners

Perhaps one of the most important parts of selling products online, collecting payments needs to be safe and easy. Payment methods and your site security can very often be the difference between a sale and an abandoned cart. Many websites utilize a billing and/or shipping address entry on their checkout pages where customers have to enter their personal information. Because this happens either in conjunction with collecting the payment or before transferring the customer to a separately secured payment gateway, the information still needs to be protected separately through the website. This is why certain payment gateways require an SSL certificate before they can even be activated, as a means of extra security for all information.

Benefits for Registration Sites

Even if you’re not collecting payment information on your site, an SSL certificate should still be considered. If users register for your site, their personal information is submitted through the site. This means that it is susceptible to being accessed and used by hackers and cyber criminals, possibly resulting in identity theft and more. Also, many times users will use similar passwords across multiple sites. If their registration for your site matches account information elsewhere, they open themselves to further abuse. When in the wrong hands, someone’s e-mail, birthday, and name can cause serious damage.

Informational Sites

While it will not hurt your website, a SSL certificate is not considered vital for strictly informational websites. That is, if you only display information and do not interact with customer data, you don’t require SSL certificates. When the site is used just for display purposes it isn’t a target for cyber criminals because they won’t gain information from your site. To see if you fall into this category, check for any registration forms, user portals, contact forms, or anywhere else on your site that takes user input. If you don’t find anything, your site would fall under the “informational” category and a certificate would be less lucrative for you, although definitely not detrimental.

Good for SEO?

An SSL certificate could be beneficial from a search engine optimization standpoint. Since Google “likes” sites that provide a better user experience, having an SSL can certainly be beneficial. This should not be your primary reason for having an SSL, but it is an added consideration. Google may place more weight on SSL certificates over time.

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