Benefits of HTTPS & How to Get it On Your Site

Over the last few years, a huge majority of websites have shifted from HTTP to HTTPS. Search engines have been incentivising the transition with better search engine rankings.

If you are still on the fence, here are a few benefits of HTTPS and installing an SSL certificate to your website to help you make the right decision.

1. Improved search engine rankings

Increased website security is an important search engine ranking factor. Google announced in 2014 that HTTPS would become a relevant search engine ranking factor for all websites.

Now, this correlation between higher search engine rankings and the use of HTTPS can be easily observed.

Brian Dean from Backlinko analysed over one million Google search results and found a direct relationship between the two. Take a look at the following chart.

As you can see, domains with HTTPS and improved security are more likely to rank on the top position in Google SERPs.

Assuming all other ranking factors are equal, HTTPS could literally be the difference between outranking your competitors and getting outranked by them.

2. Safeguarding user information

As an online business owner, safeguarding user information is your responsibility. In fact, it should be one of your top-most priorities.

You do not want your website visitors to lose their private, sensitive information as a result of visiting and navigating your website. An incident like this can destroy your business.

If you are collecting personal information, such as name, email address, or credit card information, on your website, safeguarding user information becomes all the more important. E-commerce websites often have to deal with this added layer of security.

HTTPS ensures that everything is encrypted and safe and that there is no chance to lose your site’s visitors’ personal information.

3. Higher credibility and customer confidence

Reputation and credibility are essential aspects of online success. You need to make a good impression — consistently — on your target audience.

If your site does not have HTTPS, that objective cannot be accomplished. It’s because internet users will see something like this whenever they visit your HTTP website.

This is a major red flag that raises valid questions on a website’s security. Many visitors will quickly abandon a site after seeing this error.

It can be a tough job recovering from that kind of a negative impression.

Using HTTPS makes sure that your website visitors do not get any notification or warning like this. This increases your website’s credibility and your customers’ trust in your online business.

4. Better conversion rate

All the points mentioned above lead to one result: increased user confident that eventually translates into a higher conversion rate on your site.

When website visitors — especially first-time visitors — feel more confident about your website, they are more likely to complete transactions and buy products on your website. Otherwise, most will not even feel comfortable sharing their email address.

In today’s digital age, people are concerned about the possibilities of identity theft and credit card fraud. You need to make a great impression through the quality of your content, authenticity of your product images, and professional design. Using HTTPS and increased web security is just another part of that puzzle.

That extra sense of online security will encourage more users to purchase on your website and help increase the conversion rate.

How to get HTTPS for your website

Getting HTTPS for your site is a three-step process.

• The first thing you need to do is to purchase an SSL certificate for your website.
• Next, you will need to install the certificate on your server.
• Once you install the certificate and check it for any errors, the third step is to notify Google that you have added HTTPS to your site. This is done through Google Search Console.

Conclusion

Using HTTPS isn’t optional anymore. It is mandatory if you are serious about the success of your online business. The various benefits mentioned in this article should only enforce its importance and why you need to install an SSL certificate to your website in case you haven’t already.