Ever noticed that little padlock in the address bar of your browser?

If you haven’t, then take a look. The presence of the symbol denotes that the particular website is protected by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, and has a valid SSL certificate to guarantee the fact. And this one small icon has sent SEOs all over the world scrambling for answers.

 

The reason can be found in an announcement made by Google way back in 2014, where the company disclosed that all things being equal, the presence of SSL certificates would give any website a certain modicum of advantage in gaining good search engine rankings. And since then, the one question bugging local SEO services the world over is how relevant SSL certificates actually are for search engine rankings.

 

 

 

Want to know the answer? Read on to find out.

 

How SSL Certificates Can Help SEO Services?

 

Before going into the details of whether SSL certificates are important for SEO or not, let’s first understand what SSL is, and how SSL certificates operate.

SSL is essentially a security standard that guarantees an encrypted connection between a browser and a web server. The presence of SSL encryption serves to ensure that all data communication between the browser and the server remains secure and is protected against unauthorized access.

 

An SSL certificate is a digital document that signifies that a website is protected by SSL encryption and is safe for visitors. By providing a secure link, an SSL certificate serves as a mark of authenticity for any website.

 

As per Google’s guidelines, sites with SSL certificates stand to gain in rankings. Although search engines are usually circumspect about the ranking factors, the presence of SSL certificates can work in favor of your SEO efforts in multiple ways. Some of these are discussed below.

 

Maintain Visitor Trust

 

The presence of an SSL certificate on your website acts as a mark of trust. When visitors see your site being protected by SSL it will boost their confidence in your online property, and nudge them towards coming back to your site for more visits. From this insight it can be safely said that SSL certificates have the potential to increase the number of visitors to your website and are bound to have an impact on your search engine ranking.

 

Improve Site Speed

 

Metrics suggest that sites with proper SSL certificates using HTTPS connections load much faster than sites that still operate on traditional HTTP. As site speed is certainly one of the valid ranking factors for any search engine, it makes sense to use an SSL certificate.

 

 

Augment Conversions

 

Ask any SEO agency India, and it will tell you that SSL certificates certainly work towards improving the conversion rate of a website. By encrypting all data traffic between users and your web server, SSL helps to generate greater levels of confidence in the minds of the users.

 

 

This makes them more likely to share information, make purchases and take any desired action. The increased level of visitor reliance enhances your reputation among the online community, thereby lending a positive impact to your rankings.

 

Be Future-Ready

 

As per the latest statistics from hostingtribunal.com, it is expected that over 90% of all web traffic is going to be SSL-secured by the end of 2019. The reason behind this trend is that Google is currently working towards a web that is safe by default, and its policy of giving a slight advantage to websites that use SSL certificates is just another step in this direction.

 

 

When you incorporate an SSL certificate in your website, not only do you stand to gain in the eyes of Google, you are also preparing yourself for a future where SSL certificates will be the norm and not the exception. So making such a move will certainly keep you in good stead.

 

 

Gain The Competitive Edge

 

As the number of websites using SSL certificates is still not very large, most likely your competitors are not using one either. So, when you include an SSL certificate on your website you are positioning yourself to reap the early bird benefits and get ahead of the competition, both in terms of SEO and user experience.


The Final Verdict

So, should you get an SSL certificate? While SSL currently does not have a huge impact on rankings, trends suggest that in the future it is bound to play a big role in SEO. By migrating to SSL, you have nothing to lose but everything to gain. So don’t wait till it’s too late, and contact any top SEO agency to get your SSL certificate.