The Importance of SSL Certificates in Your SEO Rankings

Nowadays, SEO is a very hot topics with discussions ranging from E-Commerce stores to startups and podcasts. It also turns out, that SSL has become a very important part of this. But how important is it really to your rankings on Google and Bing? Actually, very much so. See, Google and Bing want their users to stay secure – and in the interest of that, their search engines are designed to prioritize SSL websites over non-SSL websites.

In brief, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates are a security measure for websites. They’re small ‘certificate’ files that are installed on a web server, activating a visual padlock for the user, and an invisible padlock for the device that allows secure connection from a web server to a browser.

It’s all part of the web moving to a more secure place. Not long ago, SSL certificates became free, yet very few websites currently use them. In fact, the latest information suggests that the figure might be just 6% of the top 10,000 websites.

Pages Served in HTTPS Format Will Receive an SEO Boost

In Google’s ever-changing world of algorithms for SEO rankings, one of the latest is the inclusion of websites using SSL certificates as a factor of their ‘trustworthiness’.

From Google:

We’d like to announce that we’re adjusting our indexing system to look for more HTTPS pages. Specifically, we’ll start crawling HTTPS equivalents of HTTP pages, even when the former are not linked to from any page.

This means that, for the first time, HTTPS pages will receive an SEO boost and be the default result for searchers. For webmasters, the key will be to make sure they’ve implemented SSL certificates properly to ensure the best possible visitor experience and avoid a temporary drop in rankings.

Having an SSL certificate on your website is the new standard

Without an SSL certificate installed on your website, users who view your website will be disinclined to view your content, or put in their information to order things from your website. In addition this, you are putting your information and your client’s information at risk by not having this set up properly.

You can be sure that having an SSL certificate on your site is valuable. It shows visitors that your site is verified and that it’s safe from malicious users. It also improves your SEO rankings.