Starting January 2017, Google Chrome will start labelling websites as insecure if they don’t have an SSL certificate installed
This change will initially only affect websites with password fields and/or credit card form fields but eventually it will be rolled out to any website that hasn’t got an SSL certificate installed.
When Google is involved that can only mean one thing – a drop in traffic to your website if it isn’t secured with HTTPS. With Chrome having over 50% share in the mobile/tablet browser market you could potentially be missing out on a lot of traffic.
SSL certificates – what are they?
An SSL certificate basically encrypts information sent from a website visitors browser to a website. Traditionally they are used to protect e-commerce websites
Why is encrypting web traffic important?
Depending on your connection, traffic from your smart phone to a website can be intercepted and altered, therefore opening up your browsing habits and other information.
How much does an SSL certificate cost?
Depends where you go and who you are hosted with, but generally speaking you are looking at between £20 and £35 ex VAT.
Aren’t SSL certificates free?
They should be. On Tring Web Designs’ new cloud hosting platform we can offer SSL certificates at no extra cost
How can you offer SSL certificates for free?
An initiative last year called Lets Encrypt essentially allowed anyone to install an SSL certificate for free. Lets Encrypt is an open source movement designed to “secure the web”. Our advanced high performance cloud hosting is already using Lets Encrypt certificates. Plus you benefit from website load times that are just as fast as Google itself.
Where can I find out more information on Chrome and SSL Certificates?
https://security.googleblog.com/2016/09/moving-towards-more-secure-web.html
