Assuring prospective customers that they are safe when visiting your website is imperative. If you want them to trust your business, they must be certain that the personal data that they share with you, is protected from falling into the hands of cybercriminals.
A website must be protected, in order to show authenticity and build trust with its everyday visitors.
And how can you achieve this anyway?
Make sure your website is secure and buy an SSL certificate today.
All modern-day websites need to deploy SSL encryption. Internet users are becoming more concerned about the privacy of the data they submit online. SSL certificates act as an added layer of security.
SSL is an acronym for: Secure Socket Layer. It is a security protocol used to create a secure connection, by encrypting data when it’s being transmitted between websites and web servers.
It’s important to know that your search rankings can be impeded if your website isn’t secure. How?
Firstly, Google has announced SSL certificates to be one of its ranking signals.
Thereby, websites with SSL certificates will have an advantage over other unsafe websites in search rankings.
Additionally, websites that are not SSL certified are flagged by most browsers, like Chrome and Firefox, as ‘Not Secure’.
This warning will prompt the user to leave the website immediately (they will feel skeptical about their personal data).
With that, bounce rates will increase, which will further harm the website’s rankings on Google.
Therefore, we can say that SSL certificates can improve your SEO rankings.
Let’s see how SSL certificates work
The encryption of data ensures that only your website and the client’s server can decrypt the data, and no one else (such as attackers) can understand or utilize it.
Want to figure if a website is SSL encrypted or not? Simple. SSL secure websites have a padlock displayed in their URLs followed by HTTPS instead of HTTP.
This ‘S’ stands for security – ensuring users that they will be able to browse and navigate safely.
There are various types of SSL certificates and levels of validation that you can choose from depending on your website’s security needs. Validation levels are the same for each type of certificate, however, the verification process differs from one type to another.
Types of SSL certificates
1. Single-name
Single-name certificates are meant to protect only one subdomain.
For example,
If you buy your certificate for this domain: www.websitename.com, You can’t apply it to this one: info.websitename.com.
2. Wildcard
Wild-card SSL certificates secure the main domain (and only one domain) along with unlimited subdomains.
So if you buy a Wild-card certificate for www.websitename.com, it will also apply to info.websitename.com, blog.websitename.com, Anything.websitename.com. But will not secure example.login.websitename.com.
This certificate can be a quite effective and affordable option for many websites.
3. Multi-domain
A Multi-domain certificate is sometimes referred to as “SAN extension”.
Multi-domain SSL certificates allow you to control multiple different domains using one certificate.
This means that you can secure multiple subdomains or more than one different domain name with a single Multi-domain certificate. (You can combine different hostnames whether they are from the same domain or other different domains.)
This can be a great choice for businesses that own several domains that all need security, as one solution (Multi-domain certificate) can protect them all.
After deciding which type of SSL certificate you need, then there are going to be a few different options for validation.
Validation levels
1. Domain validation (DV)
The most typical and the least strict validation level. Companies only need to prove their ownership of the website to be able to obtain an SSL certificate with this validation level.
This is a good option for small businesses or companies that only have one site. However, if you sell something online, this validation level is not the one for you.
As Domain validated SSL certificates don’t offer the highest level of security, users tend to avoid providing their personal information (such as payment details) to websites with this type of certificate.
2. Organization validation (OV)
To obtain this certificate, the certificate authority conducts some further investigations related to the business’s address and name (They make sure you own a company in a specific location).
It requires some extra steps to verify your identity.
This is why this certificate shows more trustworthiness to the user than the Domain validated certificate.
3. Extended validation (EV)
This type of validation requires a standardized identity verification process to be obtained. Website owners need to provide further records to prove their organization’s ownership.
You need to confirm that your company physically and legally exists. In other words, you need to prove that your organization is registered as a business entity and that it exists in the location listed.
That explains why Extended validation is the most secure type of SSL certificate.
Still do not know which SSL certificate is the right one for you?
We can help! Contact us.
In Conclusion
Internet users need to be ensured that their personal data is safe, as it travels through cyberspace.
Buying an SSL certificate for your website, will provide you with that extra layer of security and build an immediate foundation of trust with website visitors. Moreover, unsecure websites could harm your organization’s SEO efforts, and stop your pages from ranking higher on search engines, like Google.
Provide users with peace of mind, and make sure your websites are secure today.
Want to buy your SSL certificate now online?