Safety First! The Importance of SSL Certificates

What if we told you, in 2018, that the vast majority of existing websites don’t have an SSL certificate attached to it, would you believe it? And what if we also told you that many of these websites are online stores, where you conduct your purchases daily and reveal your payment details without any protection?

It is hard to believe but it is the complete reality, much due to the scarce disclosure of information on the subject and / or ignorance of those who run these same websites.

At a time when even Google has admitted that it will start penalizing all websites that do not have an SSL certificate in their search results, it makes no sense not to bet on this certification. One of the things we inform our customers as soon as they give us a project that involves web development is exactly the purchase of an SSL certificate, especially if the website in question is dealing with sensitive data.

An SSL certificate is nothing less than a certificate that ensures the protection of data when exchanges are made between the website and the end consumer. The purpose of this certificate is to prevent hackers from stealing confidential information from end users and using it to their advantage.

This is an encryption-based technology widely used in financial applications and online stores, but it is little user-friendly, since there are several options in the market and it is necessary to know which one fits your business model. The provider will have their price lists clearly indicating what each package offers, however we always advise you to make the decision by consulting your agency, as they will certainly know which option is best for you.

You should now be asking yourself “how do I see if a website has a ssl certificate?” It is very simple, just go to the navigation bar (where you normally write the url) and the first thing that will appear to you will be “Secure https: …”, this in case of websites with security certificate, the others will appear only http.

So the next time you visit your favourite online store, pay attention to this small detail and avoid revealing your personal information without being sure the website is safe.

As the reader should remember, at the beginning of this article we made reference to the fact that Google will start penalizing websites without SSL certificate, but in what way will this be?

Basically Google will start to signal to its users, more often than not, that a given website is not secure, penalizing it in terms of SEO in its rankings.

Until now, all Google did was add “Not Secure” in the URL bar, however, and since it is a detail that goes unnoticed to many users, it will also begin to make this information available in its search results in a highlighted way, next to those websites that do not have the certificate.

The only disadvantage associated is that certificates have a fixed cost which is usually renewed every year, however, we are talking about a symbolic value if we take into account all the advantages associated with obtaining an SSL certificate.

Proper use of SSL certificates will not only help protect your customers, but will also help protect you and help you gain trust and credibility with your customers.

Who, in fact, would like to have such information associated with their website?

If you have any questions or concerns about SSL certificates please contact us, we will be happy to clarify your doubts and know more about your project.