You are going to need an SSL certificate if you want Google to send you traffic in the coming months and years.
When it comes to ranking, there are a lot of factors. Now we have one more to worry about. If you are serious about optimizing your website for the best keywords, you should be aware that the need for SSL should not be ignored, otherwise your hard optimization work can be for nothing.
Look at this: https://domain.com… see that ‘s‘ after the http? You’ll need that soon!
Website Security and it’s correlation with Ranking in Search Results
Way back in 2016, the engineers at Google warned us of that it was putting more importance on website security. In the past, the URL of insecure sites looked like this:
However; what is coming is far more severe:
In late 2017 (and certainly by early 2018) they predict that the red triangle will start appearing on some sites which do not have an SSL certificate. This is absolutely true where personal and confidential information could be stolen.
Free SSL certificates for SEO
If you don’t already have a certificate, don’t worry… you can get a free one from letsencrypt.org.
Their SSL certificates are great. In fact, this site is secured by a free certificate from letsencrypt. And we put it in place to make sure we are ahead of the curve when it comes to Google’s ranking algorithm.
You will have to check with your webhost to be sure they haven’t blocked the use of letsencrypt (a practice that some providers employ so you are forced to buy a certificate from them, rather than getting one for free).
Everyone feels better when visiting a site that is secure.
What to do next… Want free traffic, better SEO and the chance to have Google send qualified prospects to your website? Want to make sure you are ready for this coming SEO bomb? Want to keep the sky from falling and the earth from melting? Get an SSL certificate!!
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