The Advantages of Having an SSL Certificate for Your Website

Do I really need an SSL certificate for my website? We’ll explore the 5 SSL certificate advantages for your website so you can decide for yourself!

If you’re wondering whether you really need an SSL certificate for your website, then you’re not alone! When you create a new website, you’re likely to come across so many new technological tools, apps, software, and digital certificates that choosing the best among them is can be a confusing process. As far as an SSL certificate is concerned, people generally consider it the third most essential thing for a website after a domain name and hosting platform.

So why exactly an SSL certificate is given so much importance in the world of technology? In this article, we’ll cover the key advantages of using an SSL certificate so that you can decide whether you need an SSL certificate for your website.

Key Advantages of Using an SSL Certificate for Your Website

An SSL  certificate, which stands for secure sockets layer, is one of the X.509 digital certificates that works on the principles of public key infrastructure (PKI). An SSL certificate is also known as transport layer security (TLS) certificate, an HTTPS certificate, a website encryption certificate and or simply a website security certificate. So, when you’re searching an “SSL certificate for website,” you’re searching for any of these things.

Here are the main advantages of having an SSL certificate for website:

Advantage 1: Securing Data in Transit

When your website visitor writes anything on your website, like fill out a contact form, participate in a survey, write payment card details at the payment gateway, these details must be secured until it reaches your server. While the data is in transit, it’s in plaintext format and is susceptible to eavesdropping and data theft through session hijacking and man-in-the-middle attacks.

When you install an SSL certificate on your website, all the data will be transmitted using a secure HTTPS channel, which enables data encryption between your website’s server and website visitors’ browsers.  No one can read, interpret, modify, and steal the encrypted data while it’s in transit. That’s how you can provide robust security to your customers’ data.

Advantage 2: Verifying Website’s Identity

An SSL certificate for website can be issued by only publicly trusted certificate authorities (CA). All the sites have their unique public key and its corresponding private key. It is the CA’s job to attach the right public key to the right hostname (website’s domain name) in the SSL certificate.

The CA follows a strict verification process set by the CA/Browser Forum (CA/B Forum) to verify whether you own the domain for which you have applied for the certificate. For business verified certificates, the verification process is even more rigorous. That’s how the CA makes sure the web traffic is redirecting to the right website’s server.

All the commercial CAs offer warranty. So if, by chance, something goes wrong with the certificate and your business suffers a financial loss as a result, the CA must pay up to the warranty amount to the victim.

Advantage 3: Visual Indicators

Without an SSL certificate, all the browsers will show a pesky “Not Secure” sign in front of your domain name in the address bar. This means that when someone clicks on such sign, it will show the following warning:

However, when you install an SSL certificate on your server, it removes the “Not Secure” sign and displays a padlock symbol, indicating the secured connection, in front of your domain name:

If you have got extended validated (EV) SSL certificate, the internet explorer will show your company’s legal name in the address bar too:

Additionally, all of the trustworthy commercial CAs offer free site seals, also known as trust seals, with their SSL certificates. To make the most of your seal, you should place it in your website footer, on check-out pages, nearby subscription tabs, or any other important places. These small images indicate that a trustworthy CA is vouching for your website’s data security with their secured SSL certificates:

Advantage 4: Customer Trust

One of the crucial factors of an online business is customer trust. People are becoming more tech-savvy these days. They do check a new website with vigilant eyes and abandon it if the site doesn’t look trustworthy. When there’s a “Not Secure” sign right in front of your domain name, site visitors are likely to quickly leave your website and move to any other, probably your competitors’ website. This will affect not only your business but also the reputation.

Having an SSL certificate for website is the only way to remove this type of warning and display the secure padlock symbol in front of your domain name. A padlock symbol and site seals are the visual indicators of trust.

Between the site seals and the security padlock, your customers will feel more confident and trust your site while sharing any financial information like credit card information, bank account numbers, and personally identifiable information (PII).

Advantage 5: SEO Benefits

Google and all the search engines want to secure their users. That’s why, since 2014, Google has made HTTPS one of the factors of its ranking algorithm. If all the elements are equal, the website on an HTTPS will be given a better ranking in Google’s search engine result pages (SERPs). It takes a lot of effort and money to have a good SEO posture. But if you miss an SSL certificate, your entire SEO strategy is going to have a big flaw in it.  

Final Thoughts on an SSL Certificate for a Website

Now that you know the advantages of an SSL certificate for a website, the very next thought you will encounter is its cost. Luckily, a digital certificate that offers so many benefits and robust security is way cheaper than you imagine!

Sectigo (formerly Comodo CA) sells the least expensive SSL certificates for websites and yet they’re viewed as some of the most trustworthy SSL certificates in the market. Sectigo SSL certificates for your website starts at as little as $8.78 per year! And, of course, you will get a free site seal, a 30-day money-back guarantee, a generous warranty, and 24/7 live customer support, too!