SSL is no longer optional – it’s the baseline for any website
Every website should be running on HTTPS with a valid SSL certificate. This isn’t new advice, but it’s worth restating because it’s still non-negotiable: browsers actively flag unencrypted sites as “Not Secure” right in the address bar, which is enough to send visitors straight back to Google.
If your website takes any client information – logins, contact forms, shopping carts, payment details – SSL encrypts that data in transit so it can’t be intercepted. Without it, you simply can’t guarantee your customers’ information is safe.
The good news: SSL is now free
Unlike when this article was first written, paid SSL certificates are largely a thing of the past for most small and medium businesses. Free certificates through Let’s Encrypt are automatically issued and renewed by most decent hosting providers and are just as secure as paid options for the vast majority of websites. Paid certificates still exist for specific use cases – extended validation for large e-commerce or finance sites, for example – but if you’re being charged $150+ a year for basic SSL on a standard business website, it’s worth asking your host or developer why.
SSL and your search rankings
Google has confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal for years now, and it’s baked into how Chrome and other browsers treat your site by default. A secure site is table stakes for ranking well – it won’t push you to the top on its own, but running without it will actively hold you back.
Beyond SSL: the rest of your security checklist
SSL is just one piece. A genuinely secure website also needs:
- Regular software, theme and plugin updates – outdated software is the most common way sites get compromised
- Automated, offsite backups so you can recover quickly if something goes wrong
- Strong, unique admin passwords and two-factor authentication on your login
- A web application firewall or security plugin to filter malicious traffic
- Regular malware scanning, particularly if your site accepts user uploads or logins
At Web Marketing Angels, we take website security seriously and build it into every site we manage – SSL, updates, backups and monitoring included, so you don’t have to think about it. If you’re not sure whether your current site is properly secured, get in touch and we’ll run a check.