More and more sites are using SSL certificates as one of the main tools to protect user data. These certificates securely encrypt visitor data and protect it from being stolen. In addition, they increase the reputation of websites in search engines and become an additional means of phishing prevention.
Recently, many web admins have talked about the impact of SSL certificates on SEO. We have analyzed this topic. Read this post to the end to learn about the impact of security certificates on the ranking of websites in Google and other search engines.
What Is an SSL Certificate?
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a data encryption protocol that works with asymmetric keys. Such certificates are necessary to confirm the owner’s data and increase the security of financial transactions and personal data entry procedures. In addition, an SSL certificate allows encrypting traffic, preventing hacking or stealing data at the request processing stage on the server.
Earlier, SSL certificates were used only on sites with payment systems (online stores and payment services). Nowadays, however, more and more attention is paid to the security of personal data. As a result, search engines are paying more and more attention to using SSL certificates on websites.
How Does SSL Certificate Affect SEO?
SEO is a set of methods that help raise the site in search engine rankings.
Search engine ranking position is critical for any Internet resource. It contributes to the growth of the project audience, its recognition, and efficiency.
On the position of the site in search results, a huge number of factors:
- Quality and unique content
- Keywords
- SEO friendly links
- Metadata
- The site’s loading speed and the presence of errors in the structure
What Role Does an SSL Certificate Play in This Set of Criteria?
One of the key aspects of your site’s position in a particular search engine is its credibility. Search engines value their reputation and audience, so they strive to offer visitors the most reliable options in response to their queries. SSL certificate is an important indicator of the reliability of the site. In addition, it demonstrates that the resource owner cares about the safety and security of the data of those who use it.
SSL encrypts all the data when users connect to the site.
Thus, the presence of an SSL certificate symbolizes the site’s reliability. Therefore, search engines rank such web resources faster than unprotected SSL sites.
But what is the mechanism by which search engines determine web projects with a certificate?
We all know the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) protocol is used on most websites. When you add a security certificate, the protocol changes to an extension of HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure). This protocol extension lets search engines and end users know that an SSL certificate protects the selected site. You can see the attachment directly in the browser’s address bar before the direct link to the resource. It is also detected by the search engine, improving the site’s ranking.
Users also prefer secure sites with data encryption. This can be a secondary factor in growing organic traffic to your web resource, especially if your site has a connected payment system and registration form.
In addition, you need to monitor the timing of the active certificate and the relevance of the certificate authority. Google does not consider some accreditation centers. Therefore, when choosing a certificate, ensure that the certification authority is supported by one search engine or another. This is very important if you want to improve your SEO in this way.
Is an SSL Certificate Enough for Quality SEO?
Google does recommend SSL certificates for most sites. However, it is not the main criterion for ranking and indexing web pages in search engines. It would help if you used the tools to repeatedly increase the quality of organic promotion in Google and other services.
Pay special attention to backlinks. This is one of the most effective tools for organic promotion. Search engine crawlers analyze the credibility of sites not only through security certificates but also through guest links. Therefore, try to use outreach tools of SEO promotion, not limited to any one tool. In this case, SSL and SEO will give the desired result in the form of an increase in the search engine results of the web resource without additional financial expenses.
Conclusion
SSL certificate is not just a concern for protecting your Internet project and its users. It is a promising investment in website development, which is necessary for any projects with user registration and payment functions. In addition, take care to comply with other search engine ranking factors. Some website owners make a mistake focusing too much on one SEO criterion. Diversify your efforts to make your site successful!
