WordPress
3. januar 2017
Why you should secure your website with SSL
In this article, we look at why you should secure your website with SSL, what SSL options are available, and how you can technically implement SSL if you run a site built with WordPress.
Make Google happy – Get SSL
SSL is good for SEO – there is no doubt about that. In 2014, Google announced that going forward it would give a small ranking boost to sites secured with SSL.
How big that boost has been is difficult to predict, but many who switch to SSL report that they move up in the search results for certain keywords – and no one reports that switching to SSL has had a negative effect.
In 2016, Google took another step to get all website and webshop owners to switch to SSL. From 2017, Google’s Chrome browser began warning users if they enter sensitive data on pages that are not secured with SSL. This could, for example, be form pages, payment pages, and login pages.
There are therefore many arguments for switching to SSL – and you should already consider whether you should also jump on the SSL bandwagon.
Let’s Encrypt – SSL for everyone!
You may previously have heard and read that securing your website with SSL is an expensive and technically difficult undertaking. That is not entirely incorrect, if we go back just six months.
However, in 2016, a service called Let’s Encrypt gained significant momentum. Let’s Encrypt offers free SSL certificates to anyone who wants one.
Below is a graph showing the development of active Let’s Encrypt certificates.
Many Danish web hosting providers have also started using Let’s Encrypt, and in practice this means that you will most likely be able to get a free SSL certificate on your current web host.
Below you will find an overview of which web hosts currently offer free SSL as standard:
- UnoEuro: SSL can be purchased as an add-on
- Azehosting: Free SSL
- Meebox: Free SSL
- Surftown: Free SSL
- com: Free SSL
- cHosting: Free SSL
You are most likely hosted with one of these providers, and therefore you can probably also get free SSL. Try writing to your provider and ask about the options.
SSL with WordPress
We have now reached the point where we can conclude that SSL is very easy to obtain today, often completely free of charge.
But what then, once you have obtained your SSL certificate? What do you do next?
The first thing you need to do is have your web hosting provider activate the SSL certificate on your server. Once this is done, you need to configure your site so it can only be accessed via https, where it was previously http.
If you use WordPress, this is very easy. All you need to do is download a plugin called “Really Simple SSL”.
This plugin ensures that your site, links, images, and resources such as CSS and JavaScript are served via https.
The plugin works by simply activating it and then enabling SSL. Once this is done, your site is secured with SSL, and you can now wait in anticipation to see whether your Google rankings increase slightly. 🙂
Never underestimate the manual approach
The simplest solution is, as mentioned earlier, to install a WordPress plugin and click a couple of buttons. However, if you want a streamlined solution with maximum efficiency, it can certainly make sense to do it manually instead.
It takes a few hours to implement SSL in the backend of your website, provided you use WordPress or one of the many other common CMS systems out there. Fundamentally, we always implement SSL on the websites we develop ourselves.
In addition, we would be happy to hear from you if you need help with manual implementation of SSL or other programming-related tasks on your website or your webshop.
