What is an SSL Certificate?

SSL is used to securely encrypt communication between you and a website, so it keeps your details secure from hackers. It’s highly recommended for all e-commerce websites or sites that use forms to ask for personal details you don’t want getting into the wrong hands.

Is your website secure?

If not, Google Chrome, the world’s most popular browser, is letting visitors know about it.

To the left of the web address there is a little security status icon. If you land on a page that doesn’t have SSL, you’ll see a little circle with an ‘i’ in it. Click on it to reveal a message that announces:

“Your connection to this site is not secure.”

“You should not enter any sensitive information on this site (for example, passwords or credit cards), because it could be stolen by attackers.”

Doesn’t sound great, does it? It gets worse. Since Chrome’s latest release (Chrome 56) in January, non-secure pages containing password and credit card input fields get marked as ‘Not Secure’ in the URL bar:

And if Chrome has major concerns about the privacy of your site’s connection, or perceives it to be “Dangerous’ you’ll get this howler:

Does my Website need an SSL Certificate?

If you have an e-commerce website (online shop) then yes, absolutely. In fact, most payment gateway providers will insist on it so that you can take payments securely. However, until recently, most other websites were less likely to need one. But in a bid to improve security across the internet, Chrome’s latest update means many more businesses will want SSL. Companies will want to avoid having scary warnings broadcast to people visiting their website. After all, they can appear quite off-putting to the vast majority of web users.

Benefits of SSL:

• You don’t scare off your visitors.
• It helps your Google ranking.
• You look more professional.
• It helps you gain trust from potential customers.
• You get more data in your Google Analytics report.
• The data passed between you and your visitors is secure.