What are The Benefits of an SSL Certificate?

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Written By Larious

Larious is the Executive Editor of LowkeyTech. He is a tech enthusiast and a content writer. 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated on December 28, 2020 by Larious

SSL certificates have become the norm. They are almost an indispensable ingredient for every website owner who values his/her security and client’s security. Many websites are not yet sure of whether or not to have an SSL certificate. Well, the same reason you need to fasten your seatbelt while in a moving vehicle or wear protective eye care while watching the solar eclipse is the same reason you need an SSL certificate for your website. 

It does not matter the kind of website that you have. Whether it is a small blog website or a fortune 500 company website, make sure you have an SSL certificate. It is for your good and the good of your clients. With the current cyber breaches trend, SSL certificates should not be an option but a critical tool. 

SSL certificates will not only protect your website from hackers. It will also offer a myriad of benefits to your websites and your clients. This article explains some of the services you will receive when installing an SSL certificate on your website. 

  • SSL Helps with Protecting Your Data from Attackers

As they are commonly referred to, secure Sockets Layers, or SSL certificates, are the key to keeping your clients’ data safe from cyber attackers. Today, data breaches have hit alarming heights, and the graph is expected to rise even more. According to a recent Accenture report, the rate of data breaches has increased by 11% since 2018 and 67% since 2014. Unless something is done, we will continue to witness more and more data breaches. 

Security experts are doing all they can to ensure that data security is established to try and bring the menace of data breaches to a halt. They have achieved significant milestones in the fight against cyber breaches. One thing which we should all applaud is the SSL certificates. SSL certificates have been a great companion to website owners. 

They prevent all forms of Man-In-the-Middle attacks. Once a Secured Sockets Layer is installed on a website, the website data becomes untouchable by any kinds of intruders. The certificate initiates an encrypted session where the communication and data transfers between the clients’ browsers and the websites websites’ server will be converted into an indecipherable gibberish that cannot be comprehended, an intruder. It will be useless for an intruder to try and intercept the communication. 

If you value your website’s security, then it is about time you start thinking about purchasing and installing an SSL certificate on your website. SSL certificates are usually acquired from trusted Certificate Authorities. You can check this page to see some of the best certificate providers that you should consider going for.

In any case, you have multiple subdomains, then you will not need to purchase an SSL certificate for each subdomain. You can save money, time, and resources by just acquiring a single Wildcard SSL certificate, which is capable of securing your main domain and an unlimited number of subdomains. 

  • SSL certificate Helps with Identity Affirmation

The dual role played by an SSL certificate is to authenticate a website. Identity verification remains one of the vital aspects as far as website security is concerned. The internet has been flooded with scammers and fake websites masquerading to be legitimate ones. There have been people who have lost significant amounts of money by trusting such websites. By installing an SSL certificate, you will be eliminating the risks associated with fake websites.

Before a website owner installs an SSL certificate, the Certificate Authority will have to validate your authenticity to ensure that your identity is real. Once your identity has been verified, your websites will have some trust indicators that affirms your clients that your website and your identity can be trusted. 

Website visitors who see these trust signals will be assured of their security and the integrity of your website. Such an identity validation process ensures that no imposter or doppelganger can create a website pretending to be your website. Therefore, the secure sockets layer helps to drive to your genuine website, saving your website visitors from frauds and scams and enhancing your reputation.

  • Better Rankings in Search Engines

SSL Certificate for SEO

https://blog.3dcart.com/ssl-and-seo

In 2014, Google announced that the availability of an SSL certificate would be used as a key ranking factor when ranking websites in the search engine results pages. HTTPS websites would therefore rank higher than HTTP websites. 

HTTPS websites are those with the certificate, whereas those without the certification will have the URL starting with HTTP. Since then, that has been the case as HTTPS websites have always ranked higher. Several studies have also been conducted showing a positive correlation between SSL certificates and higher rankings in the Search engine results pages. 

As if that was not enough, Google made yet another announcement stating that the certificate’s presence will be used as a tiebreaker in the situation where two or more websites equaled in all other ranking factors. 

This meant that if websites equaled in rank after all other factors have been evaluated, then the website with an SSL certificate will rank higher than those without the certificate.

More and more website owners have been rushing to ensure that they have the certificate. According to Google’s Transparency Report, 84.2% of pages loaded on Google Chrome in 2019 were served over HTTPS. 

In your SEO budget plan, you should include buying an SSL certificate if you want to rank higher than your competitors.  

  • Satisfying the PCI/DSS Requirement

PCI/DSS stands Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. If your websites deal with receiving online payments, you must have heard about PCI/DSS requirements. One of the requirements set by the Payment Card Industry is that one should have an SSL certificate. This makes the certificate compulsory, whether you want it or not. 

  • SSL Certificates Increases Your Legitimacy and Customer Trust

Apart from just providing the necessary encryption, improving your ranks in the Search Engine Results Pages, and identity affirmation, the certificate is vital as far as customer trust is concerned. Users want to ensure that the data and files they share with you will remain as secure as possible. 

As such, they will be looking for some trust indicators that give them this level of assurance. The Secure Sockets Layer certificate is one such aspect that provides your customers with the utmost level of certainty. Trust is needed when building a strong brand. Having an Organization Validation or an Extended Validation certificate on your profile will provide your clients with all the details they need to trust your business. When a client sees that your website has the certificate, then he/she will likely do business with you. 

Conclusion

On most occasions, when SSL certificates are mentioned, people often think about data encryption. However, as much as they are on point, they are usually thinking of SSL certificates to provide data security puts off other purposes of the certificates. Apart from just offering the required level of encryption, SSL certificates are primarily known. 

They also play different roles, such as improving your ranks in the search engine results pages and increasing clients’ trust, which is needed to build a strong and reputable brand. You cannot wait to install an SSL certificate and reap big from the benefits that they bring forth!

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