SSL Certificates and why they matter for your website visitors

In the past if you've visited a website page with no SSL Certificate, depending on the scenario you will likely have seen one of the following:

What's changed?

We've been following this since Google Chrome and Firefox announced their intent to encourage website owners to have SSL Certificates applied to their websites irrespective of whether they took payment or captured information from a form field.

This was meant to change for Google Chrome v56 (25/01/17) but they delayed the rollout.

With GDPR now in full swing the protection of user data is paramount and SSL Certificates are now seen as a sign of how committed website owners are to protecting user data.

Recently they've implemented their intent and now show the following:

Why You May Need an SSL Certificate

Most users who visit your website will not understand the value or meaning behind an SSL Certificate.

The real issue now lies in the fact users see the "Not secure" status and may well assume the website is therefore also "not safe". This interpretation is not correct but we anticipate websites that have no SSL Certificate in place to start having reduced visits and fewer enquiries.

As with most things it is not just the application of the SSL Certificate that needs to be carried out but also:

• Google Analytics updated to reflect the new https:// (Google will treat this as a different website)
• Google Webmaster Tools (aka Search Console) updated
• 301 Redirects from the old http:// website pages to the new https://
• Internal Page Links that reference the old http:// need to be replaced with https://
• Imagery that references http:// folder location
• Any 3rd party code on the website that contains http:// needs amended, otherwise the page will say it is "Not secure"

Should you also have links to your website on 3rd party websites we will apply 301 Redirects so that they arrive at the new https:// version of your website.

Cost for us to apply an SSL to your website and the associated work is £139+vat per annum.

It is good practice though to ensure that all your Social assets, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Google My Business, etc are all updated to reflect the change.

Contact us today through email or by calling in to the team 01738 700 006