What is an SSL Certificate & Do You Need One?

The e-commerce space is so competitive today that there are literally thousands of parameters on which your business is constantly being judged. But there are two conditions that every business website simply has to comply with in order to survive and succeed. These are quality and cybersecurity.  

You can have the fastest and snazziest looking website but if consumers don’t feel reassured about the protection your website is able to provide, you can almost be certain that they won’t shop with you.

Hence, ensuring your website connection is digitally secure, and HTTPS-compliant is very important. An SSL certificate (HTTP + SSL = HTTPS) is vital for protecting your website against cybercrime and ensuring in-transit customer data safety.

Beyond securing your customer’s sensitive data and their web presence, many other options benefit you with an SSL certificate.

What Is An SSL certificate?

Every business website that deals with sensitive or financial data like online transactions, submission forms, and login sessions should have an SSL certificate as a must.

Why? An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate encrypts information for secure data transmission over the internet. If the web address bar has an "HTTPS" instead of "HTTP", it signifies that the site has an SSL certificate.

A secure website is important for protecting your customers' personal information, such as credit card numbers, addresses, and contact information from cyber threats. When this certificate is in place, the data transmitted between the customer's computer and your business website is SSL encrypted and can't be read by anyone else.

Why Do You Need an SSL Certificate for Your Business Website?

When you run an online business, it's important to make sure that you have all your bases covered. One of the most important things to do is ensure that your website is secure against cyber attacks. 

An SSL certificate helps in the following ways:

SSL certificates enable HTTPS, hypertext transfer protocol secure, or HTTP secure. SSL is a data encryption protocol used for security online. They allow the communication between your customers and your website to be secured so that all information shared cannot be viewed by anyone else, thus protecting both parties' privacy.

A web server requires an SSL Certificate to establish an encrypted link between a web browser and a server before transmitting any data across the network. If you'd like to use HTTPS protocol over your website, then you must have this certificate installed on your web server.

An SSL certificate has become important to maintain good search engine rankings because if customers cannot access an e-commerce site via HTTPS URLs (i.e., URLs starting with "https://www.example.com" instead of "http://www.example.com") or if an e-commerce site does not display the secure padlock and show that the connection to the website is secure, then search engines will downgrade the rank of such websites in search results because Google and other search engines state that SSL certificates provide better security for users' online data (i.e., payment information).

Having an SSL certificate is vital in protecting your brand reputation. When customers see the secure padlock icon and the "HTTPS" in the URL, they know their information is safe. It also encrypts the information sent between the customer and the website, so third parties can't intercept it. This helps to keep your customers' data safe and secure.

SSL certificates can boost your search engine rankings. Google has stated that websites with SSL are given a ranking boost because they are more trustworthy. This means that if you have an SSL certificate, your website will rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), automatically leading to better brand visibility and consumer perception. 

If you are looking for a way to protect your brand reputation and help boost your search engine rankings, an SSL is a great option. Before selecting the right SSL Certificate providers, make sure to compare the costs of each provider and ensure that they specifically cater to your unique needs.

SSL is a cryptographic protocol that supplies data privacy and integrity between two communicating entities over the internet. The use of digital certificates lets both parties know they are talking to who they think they are talking to and not someone else trying to intercept their conversation.

Certificates employ public-key encryption technology, which humans cannot read, so no eavesdropping can be performed if messages sent using such keys fall into human hands, preventing MITM attacks.

Such certificates ensure that we are connected securely online with websites we visit every day, like our bank or email provider. 

The use of the SSL certificate has become more important in recent years as browsers are starting to display warning messages when users try to access websites without it. This is because browsers are becoming more aware of data privacy and security and want to ensure that users are not being sent to unsafe websites.

To reiterate what we discussed earlier, the SSL certificate is important for online security, but it can also help your website's SEO ranking. 

Having an SSL certificate installed on your website creates a secure connection between your website and your visitors' browsers. This helps to protect your website from hackers and malicious attacks. 

A customer will have higher confidence in your website when they see HTTPS and a secured padlock on your website. In the case of ecommerce, a wildcard SSL would be an ideal solution. 

Wildcard SSL can be bought from several reputable CAs. A few well-known certificates are RapidSSL Wildcard, Comodo Positive SSL Wildcard, Thawte wildcard, etc. You can select any one for your ecommerce website.

Since SSL creates a secure connection between your website and your visitors' browsers, it helps build trust and credibility with your visitors. They know that their personal information is safe when they're visiting your website. Further, Google announced that websites with an SSL certificate might potentially see an improvement in their page ranking. And it looks like Google was serious about this promise because websites quickly began seeing an increase in page ranking since the announcement was made. Therefore, in order to get a good ranking on search engines, it is imperative to show that your business website is safe with an SSL certificate as validation. 

Conclusion:

There is no excuse to skip having an SSL certificate today! Not only will it keep your customers' information safe and encrypted on their website visits, but you're also protecting yourself from hackers. It's the best way of ensuring that any personal data collected by your business stays secure at all times. Just make sure you choose a trusted company with reliable customer service when looking for one.