Having a lock next to your URL is very important. Earlier only the e-commerce websites tool SSL certification seriously as they wanted to make sure that the customer could make the online transactions with complete safety. But Google wanted even other website owners to take SSL certification seriously as there are many other things like emails, passwords etc that a hacker can steal. So Google has made HTTPS as one of the important factors that is considered in the case of rankings. Having HTTPS will help the website get better ranking as compared to one who does not have the SSL certification.

What Is HTTPS?

HTTP is Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. It can be used for showing HTML pages. It can be used for those websites that do not ask or store any information about the user. Now HTTPS stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. This is an encrypted form of HTTP. HTTPS gives an added layer of security.

This layer of security is important for most of the websites as these days many websites ask for details about the client like they will have forms where the client has to enter details like name, phone number etc.

In the case of online stores, the customers have to give their confidential credit card details. In all such cases, it is important to have HTTPS. Here a security key that SSL will encrypt the traffic. It will ask for authorisation upon access.

HTTPS involves encryption, data integrity, and authentication. It gives the visitors the confidence that they are visiting a secure website.

If you want HTTPS then this is what you must do!

You will have to get the SSL certification. Here SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. HTTPS will make sure that the data is transferred safely to the destination. The “S” part in HTTPS is from SSL. HTTP will take care of how the data will appear to the user. SSL will take care of how the data is delivered.

The importance of HTTPS in SEO:

This is an important ranking factor in Google. The search engine giant wants to rank those websites that have quality content and at the same time are secure. It also gives a better user experience. The websites that do have SSL certification are marked in red as not secure. Now the target audience will naturally be sceptical about visiting a website that is not secure.

For better speed modern web browsers need HTTPS. One very important thing that you need to keep in mind is that only 1% of the websites have SSL certificate. So naturally, you get that competitive edge over your competitors who do not have the SSL certification.

But one very important thing that you need to understand here is that HTTPS has to be a part of your SEO strategy and it should not be your only SEO strategy. You need to focus equally on the other important aspects of SEO.

Give a secure user experience to your target audience by getting the SSL certification.