Website Security: HTTPS Encryption Is An Important Ranking Signal

A secure website is not only important to protecting your data and your client’s information – website security is now a ranking signal for popular search engines.

As discussed in an article earlier this month about the importance of mobile-friendly websites obtaining better search engine ranking online, the same is true when it comes to secure websites.

Both Mozilla (Firefox) and Google (Chrome) announced in 2014 that insecure websites will have their rankings online depreciated. In fact, tech giant Google stated “we encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web”.

Since Google owns over 68% of the search engine market share, we should listen.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology protects your website and makes it easy for your users to trust you.

In a nutshell, HTTP is simply the hypertext transfer protocol that your web browser uses to communicate to the web servers that provide your data to you online. HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) is the secure version of HTTP. The purpose is to ensure secure transactions for eCommerce websites as well as the security of any customer data that a website collects. A website that uses HTTPS has its data encrypted – so only you as the visitor and the website you visit are able to see what you are doing on the website.

Providing a secure connection on a website can be installed as a TLS (Transport Layer Security) Certificate. Previously known versions of this protocol were called SSL or Secure Socket Layer Certificates. A TLS encrypts the connection. The TLS Certificate corresponds to a static domain name via a session key that encrypts the data flowing between the server and client. A session key is a single-use symmetric key used for encrypting all messages in one communication session. They are sometimes called symmetric keys because the same key is used for both encryption and decryption.

One can already notice a significant difference in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) visibility when comparing HTTPS and HTTP websites online.

A migration to HTTPS encryption is especially relevant for financial services websites, sites that provide online transactions, and online client form communications. The little green padlock that denotes the HTTPS elements in the user’s browser bar not only increase visitor trust, but also increases conversion rates while decreasing bounce rates.

We can help you secure your website. We install TLS/SSL Certificates that are issued by a verified CA (Certificate Authority). We will ensure a high level of security by choosing a 2048-bit key. If you already have a Certificate with a weaker key (1024-bit), we can help you upgrade it to 2048 bits.

Whether you need a website to showcase your small business, a secure eCommerce website with credit card processing, or a corporate website full of valuable information — we can help. We offer a full range of web design services and added layers of security that will protect your data and build visitor trust. A secure website will also benefit your online ranking by making the biggest search engines happy to show off your site. Contact Us to learn more.