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Importance of SSL in SEO
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Importance of SSL in SEO
Why Secure Websites with SSL Certificates for SEO? When it comes to building or browsing through websites, it is a basic understanding that ensuring data security is of utmost importance to both the server and the client. But the question is how to achieve that, what does it mean to be SSL ready and more? Before we dive into it, let’s take a moment to understand what SEO is. To put it simply, Search Engine Optimization or SEO, as the name suggests, is the process of optimizing websites to boost the overall traffic of the corresponding websites organically from the results page of search engines. The most popular and effective way of carrying out the SEO process is to use current and relevant keywords. So to say, if a potential client were to search for something related, the search engine will automatically lead them to the respective website. Notably, SEO improves both the quality and quantity of website traffic. What is SSL and what is its purpose in securing websites? SSL certificates, an acronym for Secure Sockets Layer certificates, is the basis that makes encryption possible. They are essentially cryptographic protocols to ensure secure data transmission through the internet. They exist in small data files which bind a cryptographic key to transmit data digitally. Once it is installed on a web server, it enables secure transmission of information between a web server and a browser by activating the HTTPS protocol, indicated by the padlock icon that can be viewed at the top of the visiting website or webpage. The absence of the padlock icon indicates that the referred page does not use the HTTPS protocol, and hence, data transmission isn’t secure. On the URL bar, when you move your cursor over the secure HTTPS section, you will see the security credentials of the website that you are on. When the browser requests information from a web server, the webserver provides a copy of its SSL certificate to the browser, checking the authenticity of the corresponding SSL certificate. If the browser trusts the certificate provided, it signals to the webserver. The web server responds by sending an official acknowledgement for starting an SSL encrypted session. If a web server doesn’t have an SSL certificate, a secure connection cannot be established between the server and the browser. This implies that digitally transmitted information is vulnerable and much more accessible to malicious third-party agents. An SSL certificate contains a genuine certificate authority that validates information about the website owner under consideration, which the browser ensures. By now, we have established how SSL certificates help secure data. But is that all there is to it? The answer is NO. SSL certificates are surely a necessity when the transmission of personal information is under question. But why should a web server opt for SSL certification even when the transmitted data does not contain sensitive information? What may be the consequences of not having an SSL certificate? What are SEO rankings and why are they important for your website? Basically, the position in which a website appears on the results page of a search engine is known as its SEO ranking. There are innumerable websites all over the internet on almost every topic that ever existed. Why should a search engine display your website at the top? And what happens if it doesn’t? We live in an era in which the internet is an important part of our day to day lives. Everyday, we browse for one thing or the other on Google. The results that Google shows for every search request do not vary randomly. How many times do we really find ourselves even visiting the second page of the Google search results, let alone the rest? The truth is, often for every search result, most of the traffic is obtained by the website that shows up first in the search results page, i.e., the one with the topmost SEO ranking in that particular search. This is why it is very important to focus on improving the SEO rankings of your website. What are SEO ranking factors? SEO ranking factors refer to the process or algorithm that search engines use to evaluate the order in which websites appear in the search results page, i.e., compiling the website rankings. Some of the most important ranking factors of a website are security and accessibility, authenticity, loading speed, optimized content, relevant links and user experience. Does HTTPS affect SEO? These ranking factors affect the website’s performance by improving the overall quality of the website while also increasing website traffic. With the significance of SEO and SEO rankings established, it is equally important to understand what HTTP and HTTPS are, how they differ from each other, and how they affect websites. SEO.London · Does an SSL Certificate help or affect SEO? How does SSL improve SEO rankings? A user, who understands the importance of protecting their personal information, would be concerned about how securely their personal information is transmitted over the internet and thereby, would certainly prefer a website that employs SSL certificates, rather than ones that doesn’t. The World Wide Web is vast and infinite. In this age, when malicious agents are all over the internet, constantly trying to get their hands on confidential clientele information and contributing to what is known as the dark side of the internet, ensuring security has now become a priority more than ever. Hence, it is logical that users would want the websites they are visiting to be secured. Owing to this, users would be much more comfortable visiting and browsing through sites that employ SSL certificates. But what about the search engine results? Does a search engine prefer HTTPS websites with SSL certificates, over HTTP? Google, one of the most popular and widely used search engines, advises web developers to switch their HTTP websites to HTTPS. With the aim to create a secure web environment for its users, Google focuses on filtering search results, based on the authenticity and verification of related websites, while enforcing stricter regulations on general security of the World Wide Web. This means that preference is given to SSL certified and trusted websites, thereby improving their SEO rankings, in the process. HTTP vs. HTTPS: Which is better and why? HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is basically a protocol that enables data transfer over the World Wide Web by providing a way of interaction between the servers and the clients. So, what’s the difference between HTTP and HTTPS? HTTP is an application layer protocol. This means that it focuses on how data is presented to the user rather than how the transmission of information happens. HTTP does not concern itself with information from previous sessions, which is why it is also known as a stateless protocol. Therefore, each request is independent of the other previously executed requests. While HTTP enables the clients to interact with the servers, it lacks encryption. Encryption of data may not seem as important while simply browsing the internet. However, when it is required to share sensitive information, for instance, credit card details or passwords, it becomes a problem as HTTP transmits data as plaintext. The main difference that separates HTTPS from HTTP is that HTTPS employs SSL to encrypt regular HTTP requests and results, which would otherwise be transmitted as plaintext. This adds an extra layer of security to the website by connecting digital data to a cryptographic key, which is a string of characters within the encryption algorithm responsible for modifying data to appear random, i.e., converting plaintext to ciphertext, or vice versa, in a decryption algorithm. Hence, even if a potentially malicious third party were to get their hands on the transmitted information, they wouldn’t have the key required to decrypt the ciphertext into the original plaintext. As mentioned earlier, HTTP operates as an application layer protocol, whereas HTTPS operates as a transport layer protocol. HTTP does not require an SSL certificate. HTTPS does not only require an SSL certificate that is signed by a certificate authority but also it needs to be renewed every year. Furthermore, HTTP uses port 80 to send data over the internet, whereas HTTPS uses port 443 to serve that purpose. Despite being comparatively more expensive than HTTP, the advantages of HTTPS clearly outweigh the advantages of the former. Does SSL affect SEO? You may wonder what connects SSL and SEO to each other. While the most common way to boost the performance of a website with the help of SEO is to use suitable and relevant keywords, it isn’t enough to improve the website’s overall traffic. Google Chrome, being one of the most widely used web browsers, when a Chrome user visits an HTTP website, the website alerts them with the help of the ‘i’ icon on the top left corner, where the padlock should have been, instead. Tapping on it reveals a warning that indicates the website is ‘Not Secure’ and confidential information is not encrypted. This message warns users against entering sensitive information into the website. Owing to this warning, users understand that their personal information is at a higher risk of being compromised based on their website. Hence, SSL and SEO are closely related, and SSL affects SEO rankings. Hire an SEO Consultant Hire a #1 SEO Consultant living in London, who was working with companies like Zoopla, uSwitch, Mashable, Thomson Reuters and many others. Hire Lukasz Zelezny (MCIM, F IDM). How important is SSL for SEO? Using SSL certificates for your websites does not drastically improve your SEO rankings. Even so, they do help boost the rankings of your website. However, this does not mean it is not worth it to get SSL certification for your website. While there are several other ranking factors, you need to consider if you want to improve the SEO rankings of your website by a wide range, using SSL for SEO rankings only helps the cause. Furthermore, as aforementioned, it also adds security to your website, thereby instilling faith in your website in users and improving traffic in the long run. Therefore, it can be said that SSL does improve SEO rankings to quite an extent, even if it does not show a drastic change in rankings immediately after switching to HTTPS. Does HTTPS affect Google ranking? Even though the terms, HTTPS, and SSL are sometimes interchangeably used, they are not the same thing. As already stated, while HTTPS is the transfer protocol used to communicate between websites, SSL certificates are small data files that are used to enable the encryption of transmitted data. HTTPS is concerned with how the data is portrayed to the user, while SSL ensures the security of transmitted data. However, since using SSL certificates in itself is a way of boosting the SEO ranking of a website, subsequently, HTTPS which uses SSL certificates, improve the SEO rankings of a website as well. Moreover, in 2014, Google confirmed that HTTPS improves SEO rankings by declaring it a ranking factor. TLS vs. SSL: What is the difference and which of them does HTTPS use? TLS and SSL are technically the same thing. They are both cryptographic protocols responsible for secured data transmission between servers and systems. While SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, TLS stands for Transport Layer Security. HTTPS may use either TLS or SSL based on the requirements of the website. Simply speaking, TLS is just a more advanced version of SSL, making it the successor of SSL, even though SSL is still widely used. Many times, the terms SSL and TLS are used interchangeably. SSL and SEO – Conclusion and FAQ The World Wide Web is an ever-changing global network. Every day, something new is introduced to succeed in what was new the day before. With this exponentially rising rate of change of the internet and its various features, it is often difficult to pinpoint something worth investing in. However, what doesn’t change is the need for data security and authenticity over the internet. With the increasing number of malicious agents, data protection and privacy is one of the topmost priorities of millions of internet users. In such a scenario, HTTPS websites with SSL certificates are a blessing to both web developers and internet users. What SSL Certificate to choose? Data files that help digitally link cryptographic keys with an organization’s information are SSL certificates. When installed on a web server, it arouses the padlock and the HTTPS protocol and permits secure connections from a web server to a browser. There are three types of certificates. Choosing the right one will depend on the level of security your website needs. A domain-validated SSL certificate, also known as a low assurance certificate, is the standard type of certificate issued. Automated validation guarantees that the domain name is registered and that an administrator approves the request. The Processing time takes from a few minutes to a few hours. It is recommended for the use of internal systems only. An organization-validated or high assurance certificate needs real agents to validate the domain ownership, plus organization information such as name, city, state, and country. The processing time of an organization validated certificate ranges from a few hours to a few days. It is recommended to be used for all businesses and companies. An EV or extended validation certificate is a new type of certificate that requires the most rigorous validation process. This type of certificate ensures that the business is a legal entity and requires business information to be provided as evidence of domain ownership commerce businesses. To choose a certificate, you need to recognize the property types you wish to protect (domain, sub-domain). You also have to Identify whether you need protection for a single property or multiple properties (wildcard or multiple domains). The next step is to decide what level of protection you need. All these steps will help you choose the right SSL certificate for you. What is an HTTPS certificate? HTTPS certificate happens to be a website security certificate, a digital stamp of approval from an industry-trusted third party known as a certificate authority (CA). HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is an internet communication protocol that safeguards data integrity and privacy between the user’s computer and the site. Some website’s URLs begin with HTTP while others start with https. The “s” represents the secure encryption, which can only be guaranteed with an SSL certificate. To get your website certificate, first purchase an HTTPS certificate credit of a chosen type from an HTTPS certificate provider. Once the process has been completed, you will need to provide the certificate signing request, which will spend your chosen domain’s purchased credit. You’ll be asked to give (i.e., to paste in a field or to upload) the whole CSR text, including the —–BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST—– and —–END CERTIFICATE REQUEST—– lines. The process of getting an HTTPS certificate is usually like this, Look for an HTTPS certificate vendor. Choose the type of certificate (DV, OV, EV, single site, multisite, wildcard), and click “Add to cart.” Select your desired payment method and complete the payment. You will need to activate the new HTTPS certificate for your domain. You have the choice to paste or upload the certificate signing request. The system will elicit the certificate details from the CSR. You will be asked to choose the method of “Domain Control Validation” — with the help of an email, uploading an HTML file (HTTP-based), or adding a TXT record to your domain zone file (DNS-based). Simply follow the instructions for your DCV method of choice to validate. Wait for some minutes until the validation is performed, and the HTTPS certificate is issued. Download the signed HTTPS certificate. What certificate do I need? You need to evaluate the reasons behind your purchase of a certificate before you make this decision. Some of the questions you have to ask yourself before buying one are: How many domains do I need to secure? What type of website do I need to protect? How important is my customer’s trust? After you have decided on the basics, you need to set a budget, which is critical. Don’t compromise and make a well-thought decision when it comes to complete a business security solution. The reason why you need an SSL certificate is to ensure your site security. Websites are free to operate online without an SSL certificate. Still, you must decide whether you are willing to risk your website’s security by making it easier for hackers out there. I hope you don’t want that to happen. It was once enough to depend solely on basic antivirus software and firewalls to protect your business and home computer. The modern times have changed that notion. Today’s users are bombarded with malware and many security issues that can’t be fixed easily. Securing customer faith and confidence should be up there with the most critical factors to consider for anyone operating a business online. The function of an SSL certificate is more than to protect your transactions and your customers’ private information. It will also help build trust between you and your customer base while improving your business’s reputation. What if only part of my site is on HTTPS? The main advantage of HTTPS is that it makes your site more secure for your users. More precisely, it’s more secure when a user is giving you any sort of critical information. It’s necessary on pages where users are required to provide their credit card information. The real change takes place when a user submits their data. HTTPS can provide many veneers of protection to that data: encryption – the data is useless to anyone who somehow manages to intercept it because they don’t have the key to decrypt it (you do). Data integrity –data can’t be corrupted, which is a very good aspect. Authentication –it prevents “man in the middle” attacks, which means that no one can track your customers into thinking they’re giving you data when they’re providing it to a scammer. This is the purpose of your SSL certificate. There are other benefits of having HTTPS as well. Such as a small boost in rankings is possible if your website has it. Since it creates a more secure site for your users, the influx of customers to your website will also increase. If you just only have a blog and all you need from your users is to enter their email addresses to opt into your email lists, you probably don’t need HTTPS for security reasons. But, if you accept payments or important personal information for any reason, HTTPS is a must-have for you and your website. Will Switching Your Website to HTTPS Lead to Higher Search Rankings? Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is taking over the internet. According to WatchGuard, roughly 79 percent of the top 100,000 websites now use it. The remaining minority use the older and less-secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) protocol. Will Switching Your Website to HTTPS Lead to Higher Search Rankings? Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is taking over the internet. According to WatchGuard, roughly 79 percent of the top 100,000 websites now use it. The remaining minority use the older and less-secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) protocol. Because of the additional security it offers, HTTPS is often correlated with search rankings. Webmasters assume that using it will increase their website’s rankings. When a website is secure, it won’t pose a threat to its visitors, some of whom may have come from a search engine. While you can’t earn high rankings without content and backlinks, though, switching to HTTPS may prove worthwhile. What Is HTTPS? HTTPS is a networking protocol that creates a secure channel for sending and receiving data. All websites need a networking protocol. It’s the communications framework that allows visitors to load and interact with a website’s content. HTTPS is a secure networking protocol that uses a pair of cryptographic keys to encrypt data. To load a page, a visitor’s web browser must send a request. The website must then respond by sending the page’s content to the visitor. These back-and-forth communications are controlled by a networking protocol. HTTP and HTTPS are the two main networking protocols used by websites. They work in similar ways by facilitating the exchange of data, but HTTPS offers a more secure environment than its counterpart. Why HTTPS Is More Secure Than HTTP HTTPS offers enhanced data security by using a pair of cryptographic keys. There’s a private cryptographic key that’s installed on the website, and there’s a public key given to visitors. All data coming into and going out of HTTPS websites will be encrypted. The cryptographic keys, however, ensure that only websites and visitors can read the encrypted data. With these cryptographic keys, websites are virtually immune to man-in-the-middle (MITM) cyber attacks. A MITM cyber attack involves intercepting or modifying the data exchanged by a website and its visitors. If a visitor completes a web form containing his or her personal information, for instance, a hacker may intercept it. HTTPS only gives websites and visitors the cryptographic keys needed to decrypt the data, so using this networking protocol protects against MITM cyber attacks. Google Confirms HTTPS as a Ranking Signal Switching to HTTPS can absolutely improve your website’s rankings on Google. Google began using it as a ranking signal in 2016. In a series of posts on its Webmaster Central Blog and Security Blog, Google explained that security is one of its top priorities, so it would be using HTTPS in its ranking algorithm going forward. The Impact of HTTPS on Google Rankings When Google originally announced HTTPS as a ranking signal in 2016, it cited pre-rollout tests showing that it affected less than 1 percent of search queries. Google further said that it may strengthen HTTPS’s ranking value in the future. A lot has happened since then. Data breaches have increased, prompting consumers to be more cautious when using the internet. Therefore, Google has likely followed through on its original statement by making HTTPS a stronger ranking signal. In July 2018, Google updated its Chrome web browser to label non-HTTPS websites as “Not Secure.” Firefox and other web browsers now display similar messages for non-HTTPs websites. Vulnerable websites rarely earn high rankings. If a website or its data can be hacked, visitors may be harmed when using it. Google wants to protect its users from cyber threats, so it gives HTTPS websites a ranking advantage over those that use HTTP. Bing Doesn’t Use HTTPS as a Ranking Signal While switching to HTTPS may lead to higher rankings Google, it won’t have a direct impact on your website’s Bing rankings. When asked whether Bing’s algorithm takes into account HTTPS, the company’s lead program leader, Vincent Mehren, said it didn’t. According to Mehren, Bing’s algorithm is designed to serve the most valuable and relevant content to users. Bing doesn’t consider HTTPS as being helpful in achieving this goal. As a result, its algorithm doesn’t currently look for HTTPS. How HTTPS Can Still Affect Bing Rankings Bing may not use HTTPS as a ranking signal, but its algorithm may still be indirectly influenced by HTTPS. Bing uses many of the same traditional ranking signals as Google, including backlinks. Switching your website to HTTPS can help it attract more backlinks so that it ranks higher on both Google and Bing. Some users may be hesitant to link to your website if it uses HTTP. When a visitor loads your HTTP website, he or she will see a “Not Secure” message. The sight of this warning message is often enough to drive away visitors. Maybe a blogger visits your website and finds an interesting piece of content that he or she wants to link to. Once the blogger notices the “Not Secure” message, he or she will probably exit in search of a different website to link to. In addition to backlinks, your website will attract more social shares if it uses HTTPS. Social media users are more likely to share content from HTTPS websites than HTTP websites. If your website uses HTTPS, visitors won’t see a “Not Secure” message. Instead, their web browsers will show a padlock icon, denoting that your website is secure. Visitors will feel reassured upon seeing the padlock icon, so they’ll more comfortable sharing your website on social media. Backlinks and social shares are ranking signals used by Bing. The more backlinks and social shares your website has, the higher it will rank on Bing. HTTPS can help your website acquire more backlinks and social shares by instilling trust in visitors. Visitors won’t have to worry about their data being stolen. In turn, more of them will link to your website and share it on social media. HTTP is quickly fading in favor of HTTPS. They use similar technologies to control website-and-visitor communications, but only the latter this encrypts communications data. With HTTPS, your website will become more secure, which can have a direct or indirect impact on your site’s rankings. Because of the additional security it offers, HTTPS is often correlated with search rankings. Webmasters assume that using it will increase their website’s rankings. When a website is secure, it won’t pose a threat to its visitors, some of whom may have come from a search engine. While you can’t earn high rankings without content and backlinks, though, switching to HTTPS may prove worthwhile. What Is HTTPS? HTTPS is a networking protocol that creates a secure channel for sending and receiving data. All websites need a networking protocol. It’s the communications framework that allows visitors to load and interact with a website’s content. HTTPS is a secure networking protocol that uses a pair of cryptographic keys to encrypt data. To load a page, a visitor’s web browser must send a request. The website must then respond by sending the page’s content to the visitor. These back-and-forth communications are controlled by a networking protocol. HTTP and HTTPS are the two main networking protocols used by websites. They work in similar ways by facilitating the exchange of data, but HTTPS offers a more secure environment than its counterpart. Why HTTPS Is More Secure Than HTTP HTTPS offers enhanced data security by using a pair of cryptographic keys. There’s a private cryptographic key that’s installed on the website, and there’s a public key given to visitors. All data coming into and going out of HTTPS websites will be encrypted. The cryptographic keys, however, ensure that only websites and visitors can read the encrypted data. With these cryptographic keys, websites are virtually immune to man-in-the-middle (MITM) cyber attacks. A MITM cyber attack involves intercepting or modifying the data exchanged by a website and its visitors. If a visitor completes a web form containing his or her personal information, for instance, a hacker may intercept it. HTTPS only gives websites and visitors the cryptographic keys needed to decrypt the data, so using this networking protocol protects against MITM cyber attacks. Google Confirms HTTPS as a Ranking Signal Switching to HTTPS can absolutely improve your website’s rankings on Google. Google began using it as a ranking signal in 2016. In a series of posts on its Webmaster Central Blog and Security Blog, Google explained that security is one of its top priorities, so it would be using HTTPS in its ranking algorithm going forward. The Impact of HTTPS on Google Rankings When Google originally announced HTTPS as a ranking signal in 2016, it cited pre-rollout tests showing that it affected less than 1 percent of search queries. Google further said that it may strengthen HTTPS’s ranking value in the future. A lot has happened since then. Data breaches have increased, prompting consumers to be more cautious when using the internet. Therefore, Google has likely followed through on its original statement by making HTTPS a stronger ranking signal. In July 2018, Google updated its Chrome web browser to label non-HTTPS websites as “Not Secure.” Firefox and other web browsers now display similar messages for non-HTTPs websites. Vulnerable websites rarely earn high rankings. If a website or its data can be hacked, visitors may be harmed when using it. Google wants to protect its users from cyber threats, so it gives HTTPS websites a ranking advantage over those that use HTTP. Bing Doesn’t Use HTTPS as a Ranking Signal While switching to HTTPS may lead to higher rankings Google, it won’t have a direct impact on your website’s Bing rankings. When asked whether Bing’s algorithm takes into account HTTPS, the company’s lead program leader, Vincent Mehren, said it didn’t. According to Mehren, Bing’s algorithm is designed to serve the most valuable and relevant content to users. Bing doesn’t consider HTTPS as being helpful in achieving this goal. As a result, its algorithm doesn’t currently look for HTTPS. How HTTPS Can Still Affect Bing Rankings Bing may not use HTTPS as a ranking signal, but its algorithm may still be indirectly influenced by HTTPS. Bing uses many of the same traditional ranking signals as Google, including backlinks. Switching your website to HTTPS can help it attract more backlinks so that it ranks higher on both Google and Bing. Some users may be hesitant to link to your website if it uses HTTP. When a visitor loads your HTTP website, he or she will see a “Not Secure” message. The sight of this warning message is often enough to drive away visitors. Maybe a blogger visits your website and finds an interesting piece of content that he or she wants to link to. Once the blogger notices the “Not Secure” message, he or she will probably exit in search of a different website to link to. In addition to backlinks, your website will attract more social shares if it uses HTTPS. Social media users are more likely to share content from HTTPS websites than HTTP websites. If your website uses HTTPS, visitors won’t see a “Not Secure” message. Instead, their web browsers will show a padlock icon, denoting that your website is secure. Visitors will feel reassured upon seeing the padlock icon, so they’ll more comfortable sharing your website on social media. Backlinks and social shares are ranking signals used by Bing. The more backlinks and social shares your website has, the higher it will rank on Bing. HTTPS can help your website acquire more backlinks and social shares by instilling trust in visitors. Visitors won’t have to worry about their data being stolen. In turn, more of them will link to your website and share it on social media. HTTP is quickly fading in favor of HTTPS. They use similar technologies to control website-and-visitor communications, but only the latter this encrypts communications data. With HTTPS, your website will become more secure, which can have a direct or indirect impact on your site’s rankings.