Last Updated on February 22, 2019 by Timothy Ephraim
More and more sites are using SSL and securing their sites. Google is also promoting the use of SSL certificate in websites to make the internet a secure place. It looks like the majority of the popular (and less popular) websites are using SSL certificates. In this article, we are trying to explain to you why you should use an SSL certificate on your website or blog and benefits of SSL certificates
Recently, Chrome also started showing websites which use an SSL certificate are, secure. Also, if you are not using an SSL certificate and collect some sensitive information such as password or credit card information, Chrome will show your website as not secure
So, do you really need an SSL certificate? In one word, I would say yes. There are two reasons why I say you should use an SSL on your website.
- You will get a slight SEO boost
- Your website’s credibility will increase
So, it is apparent from our own experience that websites or blogs which use an SSL certificate will receive a slight boost is SEO. Yes, a slight boost. Google says that do not expect a huge increase in SEO as it is still one of many factors which decide search engine ranking. But in future, it might be an important feature which decides positively of a website in search results.
The second reason is credibility. If your website uses an SSL certificate, web browsers will show your website as “secure” and people will trust your website. Especially, if you run an e-commerce website this will boost the credibility of your website and people will trust your website. Also, you and your users can stop worrying about credit card information being stolen.
Is it affordable?
Well, that is a big question. Due to competition in the market, sells SSL certificates are available at an affordable price. That being said, it is not always affordable for everyone especially if you need enterprise level of protection. But you can get a good level of protection for around 50$ a year. There are some SSL vendors who sell SSL at an affordable price, To avail great deals, check out our list of Top 10 SSL providers.
Another great option is to use the free SSL providers such as Let’s Encrypt or CloudFlare. We use a Let’s Encrypt free SSL. It is enough for us as we do not sell anything or collect any credibility info or collect private information of our users. If your website only provides information for users and do not collect credit card info or privacy information, Let’s Encrypt free SSL certificate is a great option for you. Some web hosts do offer free SSL certificates with their shared or VPS packages. Do your research and use this option.
Disadvantages
Obviously, the price is a disadvantage but as I mentioned earlier, due to the price war in the market, SSL certificates are being available at a cheaper price from many vendors. So price is not going to be a big issue. Performance issues can also be seen in websites which use SSL. You can expect a slight delay in website loading speed and latency. This due to the time is taken for the handshake between server and client. Although I mentioned there’s a delay, you don’t have to worry about that. In most of the situations, you can not feel the difference time and it is negligible.
Conclusion
To conclude, I would say that SSL is being more and more mainstream. Google is promoting the use of SSL to make the internet a more secure place and so is others. I used to tell everyone that those Informational websites don’t need to use SSL certificates as they do not collect any sensitive user information. But in this changing scenario, it is better for every website to use to an SSL certificate to get SEO boost and to increase your credibility and ultimately, for the peace of mind of you and your users