We’re constantly researching ways to make your SEO even better. About 18 months ago, Google announced their preference for websites that use Secure Socket Layer (SSL). SSL is a data encryption service that reduces online fraud. Having SSL on your website will boost your SEO! The cost is anywhere from free to about $120/year and we think it is well worth it. What exactly do we mean by “boost your SEO”? If your website ranks 8th for a search term then it gets about 1.74% of the clicks. If the SSL boost ranks that same term at 7th, then you get about 2.61% of clicks that is a 50% increase in clicks.

HTTP vs. HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Now you may wonder, what does all this mean? For most using only HTTP, it leaves company websites unsecure and makes their potential and existing customers very susceptible to being compromised over time such as stolen usernames and passwords, even credit card information. However, upgrading to HTTPS provides you a more secure line improving security between sender and receiver by using a Secure Socket Layer (SSL). SSL comes into play here as it encrypts sensitive data such as usernames and passwords or credit card information before going to the sender. This encryption helps maintain confidentiality, integrity and authentication between business to customer. You can easily see if a website is secure when it appears in the URL.

There is another plus side to implementing SSL on your website, as it boosts your SEO. Recently, we found there is a strong correlation between the SSL and SEO as it boosts your ranking in Google. HTTPS is neat because it provides a secure system for your website and Google (just like David) really likes it when it comes to SEO. If you are thinking about switching over your website to HTTPS, let us know and our IT team will be able to make the switch for you.