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Reminder: Do you already have an SSL certificate for your website?

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Reading time minutes
By Patrick Schokker

Since July 2018, all websites without HTTPS connection are marked as "not secure. marked. We encounter many websites that do not currently have a secure connection via an SSL certificate. Not having a secure connection negatively affects your website in several ways. In this blog, we explain what an SSL certificate is, the importance of an SSL certificate and how an SSL certificate can affect the findability of your website in search engines such as Google.

What is an SSL certificate?

An SSL connection is an encrypted connection between the visitor and the server. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. Through an SSL certificate, personal data left on a website via, for example, a contact form or when ordering a product, cannot be intercepted by others. A website that has an SSL certificate and is therefore secure can be recognized by the closed green lock in front of the URL and the URL that begins with https instead of http.

website with SSL certificate

Website without SSL certificate

Importance of an SSL connection

In a earlier blog you were able to read that Google marks websites that do not have an SSL connection as "insecure. With an insecure mark, visitors get a notification that the connection to the website is not secure.

Notification not secure website without SSL certificate

The encrypted connection via SSL makes it difficult for "hackers" to retrieve confidential information via a website. With an SSl certificate, all confidential information is encrypted and a hacker cannot do anything with this information. So you secure the data exchange between your website and the visitor to your website and you ensure that this data cannot be intercepted.

An SSL certificate can inspire trust from your visitors in addition to the secure connection. Since the AVG that applies as of May 25, 2018, many more people have become more aware of online security and privacy. When a visitor has to enter personal information on a website, the first thing they often look at is whether or not the website is secure.

Impact on your SEO

In addition to ensuring that your website is secure and provides security and trust, having an SSL certificate also affects your SEO. In fact, websites without an SSL certificate receive a lower rating from Google.

For Google, website security is a top priority, which is why websites with an SSL certificate are prioritized in search results. Back in 2014 Google announced that a website's secure connection will be taken into account in the ranking within Google's search results. This will weigh more and more heavily in the future.

An SSL certificate not only positively affects your website's ranking within Google, but also for the other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo.

Do you have questions about the SSL certificate or want to purchase an SSL certificate for your website?

Get in touch!

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Patrick Schokker
Patrick Schokker

About this schurq

General Manager

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