As Google moves forward in promoting the use of SSL Certificates on websites, they have begun prioritizing websites with an SSL Certificate, if it already has one. In other words, if your domain has an HTTPS website address, prioritizing it and using it will improve your ranking.

For websites without an SSL Certificate, as of right now, they will not be influenced by Google’s ranking. However, it’s easy to see that it is the future for Google. The further Google goes in promoting websites with a secure connection, the closer they’re getting to giving out a higher ranking to websites with the an SSL Certificate.

What is an SSL Certificate?

An SSL Certificate installation on a domain simply means that the information being passed between a user’s website browser to a server is encrypted. This is imperative for e-commerce websites that have credit card information being passed between a browser and a server.

Why are SSL Certificates Important Now?

It does take some time and resources for a server to decrypt and encrypt data between website page requests. Therefore in the early days of the web having a website sans SSL Certificate and without private information was completely acceptable. But with the advent of newer and faster technology, the speed difference is negligible, but the security gains are paramount.

Even if you don’t have sensitive information (e.g. credit card numbers) being transmitted across the web, securing your website with an SSL Certificate will go along way to protecting personal information. For example, people’s names and email addresses will be exposed when filling out and submitting a contact form.

In short, having your website secured with an SSL Certificate is a sound investment in your website’s security and higher standing in Google’s eyes.