Acquiring an SSL Certificate and applying it to your domain will make your domain change from HTTP to HTTPS. The main reason for doing this is for increasing security on your site and allowing for secure payments.
Many people used to think (many still do) that transferring your site from HTTP to HTTPS would lose you a lot of that important linking juice but that isn’t exactly the truth.
If you take a look at the top ranking sites for any search query on the web, I guarantee that 99.99% of them (if not 100%) are HTTPS and SSL Certified.
This shows that Google ranks those more secure sites much higher than those without. This is because the sites are more secure and the promotion of non secure sites would not work well in Google’s favour.
Instantaneous benefits of SSL Certification
- Visible Security Signals to Website Visitors
- Increased Conversion Rate
- Increase Average Transaction Value
- HTTPS Alerts by Google Search Console
- No More Security Warnings Onsite
- Increased Search Rankings
How to get an SSL Certificate
SSL Certificates are very easy to get for free, meaning there is no reason why your site shouldn’t have one.
The easiest way to get your SSL Certificate is to go straight to your hosting provider. Many will offer a paid SSL package onsite but if you get in contact with them they should be able to get it sorted out for you for no cost whatsoever. The paid packages are often a way to get the increased security that may be necessary if you operate a large online store that takes payments and information from a lot of people.
Once you receive your SSL Certificate all you need to do is install a plugin to your CMS site and the SSL Certificate will automatically apply.
If you have an agency working with you on your site, perhaps they’ve built the site and are continually working with you for SEO purposes, they should sort this out for you when the site goes live. If not, get in touch with them and they should be able to sort all of it out for you.
