Have you have been involved in content creation? If yes, there is a very high chance that you must have heard of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is because it is a critical aspect of a successful online presence.
With technical SEO, you are presented with an opportunity to improve your website’s search engine rankings and overall performance. All you have to do is optimize the technical aspects of the site. One of the technical SEO issues is security, which affects a website’s ranking on search engine. You can resolve this issue with SSL Certificate.
This blog affords you the opportunity to learn explore the significance of SSL certificates and their impact on SEO. Also, you will learn from the content how to resolve technical SEO issues, especially securing your SSL Certificates on hostingcloud9.com. Let’ go straight to it.
SSL Certificates Explained
First and foremost, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) refers to a cryptographic protocol. The main function of this protocol is to establish an encrypted link between a web server and a user’s browser. Techies consider this protocol crucial to the security of internet connections.
In fact, to verify the authenticity of a website, you require an SSL certificate. The digital certificate is issued by a trusted third-party Certificate Authority (CA). When a website is secured with an SSL certificate, the URL changes from “http://” to https://, with the ‘s’ standing for ‘secure.’
The Importance of SSL for SEO
Search engines, particularly Google, prioritize user experience and safety. Consequently, they reward secure websites with higher rankings in search results. An SSL encryption will go a long way in enhancing trust and credibility in the eyes of search engines and visitors alike.
To drive this point home, in 2014, Google announced that SSL would be considered as a ranking signal. Invariably, this has encouraged website owners to adopt HTTPS to improve their SEO performance. Over time, the significance of SSL in SEO has only grown, with Google displaying warning messages for non-secure websites to ensure user safety.
But then, SSL encryption plays a fundamental role when it comes to internet connections. This involves protecting sensitive data exchanged between a user and a website. Given such security, SSL is considered a crucial ranking factor for Google.
Resolving Technical SEO Issues with SSL Certificates
- Website Security and Trustworthiness
You will agree that cyber threats and data breaches have become more prevalent in today’s world. As such, internet users view website security as a top priority for both users and search engines.
An SSL certificate encrypts data transmission as a means of preventing hackers from intercepting sensitive information. You will assure users that their data is safe on your website through the implementation of SSL. This builds their trust in your site over time.
- Eliminating “Not Secure” Warnings
If a website is flagged with warning messages on modern web browsers, such as Google Chrome it will deter visitors from proceeding further. Isn’t that terrible for business? As long as you can secure the website with an SSL certificate, these warnings will be eliminated.
- Mobile Friendliness
You are not alone in fancying mobile friendly websites. Google, in its mobile-first indexing approach, prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search results. Do you wish that your site lands on the first page of this search engine? Go ahead and subscribe to your preferred plan on hostingcloud9.com today for an SSL Certificate.
- Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)
Implementing Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is another technique to improve mobile site performance. However, AMP requires HTTPS for all its pages. Websites without SSL certificates will not be able to take advantage of the benefits of AMP, potentially hindering their mobile SEO efforts.
- Referral Data Retention
Have you ever experience a scenario where your data is labeled as “direct traffic”? This occurs when someone tries to navigate from a secure (HTTPS) site to a non-secure (HTTP) site (that is a site without SSL encryption. What happens is that the referral data (the source of the traffic) is stripped away, leading to the “direct traffic” tag.
Conclusion
This post has examined SEO from the point-of-view of security. It showed that website owners must prioritize the implementation of SSL certificates to ensure a safe and secure browsing experience is a necessity. You will be in competition or, at best, ahead of the game by signing up to hostingcloud9.com for the best SSL Certificates.