Https (SSL) Certificate and Its Impact on SEO

SSL Certificate is used by websites to establish secure connections between the host server and the visitor. A website with an SSL certificate can be accessed over the HTTPS protocol and usually has a padlock sign next to the URL. This means that all data transferred between you and the website you visit is encrypted and confidential, so hackers cannot monitor network traffic. It is recommended that each website is issued a separate SSL certificate, this is very important for websites that handle sensitive data or e-commerce sites with online stores.

As SSL certificates have become more popular, people have started to wonder what it means for SEO. In this article, we will try to explain how having an SSL certificate will affect your SEO in 2019.

Search ranking improvements

Google has confirmed that a website with an SSL certificate will have an advantage over websites without an SSL certificate. However, it can be difficult to determine the exact impact of an SSL certificate on a website’s search rankings because there are so many other factors that determine a website’s ranking. (These factors are more than 200!)

Having this certificate will not suddenly bring you to the top of the search engine pages. To ensure this, you need to consider all other SEO factors besides the SSL certificate. If you meet all other requirements, having this certificate will definitely have a positive impact on your website.

Various studies have been conducted and observed to examine the possible impact of https on SEO rankings. After these studies, “Https is moderately associated with higher search engine rankings on the first page of Google”.

The work that Backlinko has done and the grefik it has created afterwards will help you gain some perspectives:

Making improvements to the user experience!

On the other hand, it can also be said that having this certificate on your website will significantly improve the user experience. In addition to the obvious security benefits, SSL certificates also provide a number of improvements to the user experience.

Many Internet browsers (including Google Chrome) now include visual warnings when visiting websites that do not have this certification. While this prevents users from staying on this website to a great extent, on the other hand, the user spends less time on the site and leaves the site quickly. Since such transactions will negatively affect your SEO ranking; It is useful to get your SSL certificate by taking all these into consideration.

E-commerce sites selling online products are the websites most affected by the lack of an SSL certificate. As websites of this nature will need to collect sensitive data, such as credit card details, it is highly unlikely that someone entering this information will end up on an unsecured website. The result is a decline in sales and loss of revenue.

Conclusion

After all, Google algorithms have learned over the last few years that unsecured websites do not provide a good user experience and so, if you do not have an SSL certificate, Google will undoubtedly throw your website back in the SERPs. People who leave a website after seeing an unsafe message will be providing Google with data that this website is not worth ranking high for that keyword.