4 Benefits of SSL Certificates for websites

An SSL certificate is important for all websites, not just those that sell products. If you own a website, you need an SSL certificate for your website. Having an SSL certificate is a necessity, not a luxury.

An SSL certificate has the following benefits among others:

• Protects sensitive information
• Improves customer trust and affirms the business identity
• Better search engine ranking
• SSL helps you satisfy PCI/DSS requirements.

SSL protects sensitive information

Information sent over the internet is passed from computer to computer for it to get to the destination server. If the information is not encrypted, however, any computer between yours and the server can see and read all the information, including usernames, passwords, credit cards or some sensitive contact information. With an SSL certificate, your information is encrypted and it’s not readable until it reaches the server that it’s intended for. 

Improves customer trust and affirms the business identity 

When you encrypt your information, it stays secure while it goes to the server. With an SSL certificate in place, tech-savvy users can look at the certificate information to make sure that the business information listed on the certificate matches that of the website and this affirms trust.

Another primary task of an SSL certificate is to authenticate a website’s legal status. When an SSL certificate is ordered for your website, there are some verification processes that are used to verify that the domain is owned by your business. Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificates provide even more verification.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbRmX1JtaNc 

If you use Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox often, you will notice a big red “Not secure” message in the browser address bar if you go to a web page that is not secure. If the website has a form that requires information, the information you submit will not be securely sent to the server.

Better search engine ranking

One of the ranking factors used by Google for website ranking is HTTPS (secure websites with an SSL certificate), meaning that by not having an SSL certificate, and thus not having secure HTTPS pages, you are negatively affecting your search engine rankings.

Google confirmed that a secure website with an SSL certificate will have an advantage over other websites that are not as secure and encrypted — provided other search engine optimization (SEO) factors remain the same.

Types of SSL certificate

All the SSL certificates are implemented typically to increase the security of the web pages in which end-users are expected or needed to submit information that is highly confidential in nature. For instance, they may consist of account login pages (which need the username and password of the users), payment forms (which usually involve the submission of credit card details of the user), and security services such as online email (that calls for total privacy) or internet banking. But SSL certificates are not limited to sensitive pages only and may be applied to incorporate security all over a website. 

The main types of SSL certificates are:

• Domain Validated Certificates
• Extended Validation Certificates
• Multi-Domain SSL Certificate
• Organization Validated Certificates
• Single Domain Certificates
• Unified Communications Certificate
• Wildcard SSL Certificate

Does it affect the speed?

The use of SSL certificates never slows down your website. The visitor will hardly feel the difference it may make. So, it’s always better to use an SSL certificate for your website which will give additional security to your visitors and in turn, they will trust your site more and likely spend more time on your web pages. Google also increases search engine rankings for runners having an SSL instrument.

Conclusion

Having learned about the types and benefits of having an SSL certificate installed on your website, we are sure that you wouldn’t want to take any risks. Secure your website the right way by placing an order for your SSL Certificate here.

You can find affordable SSL certificates at web4africa.ng

Web4Africa

Founded in 2002, Web4Africa is an ICANN Accredited Domain Name Registrar and leading Web Hosting company that offers SSL Certificates, Domain Names, Web Hosting and related services to clients worldwide.