3 Reasons Your Business Website Needs HTTPS
Digital innovation moves at a fast pace. To top it off, your customers expect to get your products and services as soon as possible.
Because we spend so much of our time online, other systems need to keep pace with our habits. Security is especially important in the digital age, and it’s constantly upgrading to keep up with changing user behavior.
People are engaging in more risky behavior online. We’re sharing our credit card information, filing taxes and sharing other sensitive data over the web. How do we know our information is actually safe?
Hackers are always looking for loopholes. In an effort to close another door to malicious activity, more business owners have started switching to HTTPS to secure their sites.
What is HTTPS?
HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. In the simplest terms, HTTPS is a more secure version of HTTP.
HTTPS is more secure because it encrypts your site visitors’ data. This encryption reduces the likelihood that a spammer can swipe your visitor’s sensitive information.
HTTPS encrypts information by adding SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates to your site. These certificates encrypt the data as it moves between the user’s browser and the server, protecting the information from interception.
The certificates also verify your site’s identity. Every time a user visits your site, their browser checks these certificates to verify your site is safe to use.
Why Your Website Needs HTTPS
Unless you process credit card information on your site, it isn’t mandatory that you use HTTPS. Even then, HTTPS is considered the modern standard for all websites.
Although HTTPS is more secure, many websites are still using unsecured HTTP. Here are three reasons you absolutely need HTTPS on your business website.
1. Protect user information
You have a duty as a website owner to protect user information. Unintentionally using HTTP instead of HTTPS puts your website visitors at increased risk.
Third parties are always eavesdropping on your website. Specialized software can analyze user behavior on your site, and even steal information such as shipping addresses and credit card numbers.
You need HTTPS to cover gaps in HTTP security. Reputation matters a lot in the digital world. Prevent data breaches before they become a big PR problem.
2. Strict browsers
Have you visited an HTTP site using Google Chrome? If so, you’ll see that the site is labeled “Not Secure” in red text. This is a feature Google rolled out in the summer of 2018.
While users can still access your unsecured site, this warning usually causes them to leave immediately. Strict browser security settings will flag your HTTP site, destroying conversions for even the most optimized website.
We can’t be cavalier with user privacy anymore. Browsers will alert users that you don’t have the proper certificates. The warning alone could lose you valuable traffic and customers.
3. Search Engine Optimization
There are several search engines out there, but Google is the most influential by far. Once Google determined all websites should use HTTPS, they began rewarding sites for upgrading their security certificates.
Google offers a slight bump in SEO ranking to websites using HTTPS. You can’t afford to lose any ranking points in the search engines. Get secure and bring in more search engine traffic.
The Bottom Line
In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it’s clear that online privacy matters. Customers count on secure internet practices, as we spend much of our lives online. Keep your customers safe and guard your reputation with a simple HTTPS switch.
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