SSL certificate and https
An SSL certificate makes your website reachable via https: the traffic between visitor and server is encrypted, so that nobody can read along.
What is an SSL certificate?
An SSL certificate is a small digital file on your web server that does two things. It proves that your domain really is what it says it is, and it makes an encrypted connection possible. Formally the technology is now called TLS, but in practice almost everyone still talks about SSL. You can recognise a secure connection by https:// in the address bar.
Why is https important?
- Confidentiality: data from a contact form or login screen travels down the line encrypted.
- Integrity: nobody can alter the content of your pages unnoticed along the way.
- Trust: for a site without a certificate, browsers show a clear “Not secure” warning, which puts visitors off.
- Search visibility: search engines regard https as a positive signal; see also the basics of SEO.
Even if you do not have a webshop and do not process sensitive data, https is now the norm. A site without a certificate simply looks outdated and untrustworthy.
What does a certificate cost?
For most websites, nothing at all. Through Let’s Encrypt, free, fully fledged certificates are available that are trusted by every browser. They are valid for three months and are renewed automatically, so nothing can expire. Paid certificates exist as well; these mainly offer additional guarantees or more extensive organisation verification, which can be relevant for large institutions. Technically the encryption is equivalent.
Common warnings
There are two problems you will come across most often. With an expired certificate the browser shows a warning; automatic renewal prevents this. With mixed content , a secure page still loads elements — an image or a script, for example — over unsecured http. The padlock then disappears or a warning appears. The solution is to switch all references to https.
Redirecting everything to https
Installing a certificate is not enough: make sure that visitors who use the old http address are redirected to the https version automatically. That way there is always only one working version of your site, which also prevents clutter in search engines. You arrange this redirect on the server, usually with a single setting in the control panel.
Certificates and security
Important to know: https secures the connection, not the website itself. A site with a valid certificate can still be hacked through outdated software. So regard a certificate as one layer of your security; you can read about the rest in preventing a hacked website. With our web hosting a certificate is included as standard.