The short answer is Yes!
If your website is asking for personal information through text inputs into search bars, contact forms, login panels and so on, you will definitely need an SSL Certificate.
Also, Google, Chrome and Firefox and other browsers are now flagging your website as ‘Not Secure’ if it does not have an SSL in place!
If you want to avoid ‘Not Secure’ warnings on your site, you will need to implement SSL as soon as possible.
SSL for Privacy
With GDPR and other privacy regulations, your website has to have security features such as an SSL certificate in place. This will protect any information your users submit when you sell online, or when they provide personal details such as names, addresses, usernames and passwords.
The URLs of websites that don’t have an SSL certificate will remain as ‘http’, while websites with SSL certificates will start with ‘https’, where the ‘s’ stands for secure.
You will also see a padlock symbol before the URL. This indicates that a well trusted encryption is in place, so people understand that any information they input is safe and secure.
The advantages of SSL encryption:
- Protects websites from attack and reduces the risk of hacking
- Protects the user’s sensitive information with high encryption levels
- If your website accepts payments, your customers will have a safe shopping experience
- Google’s evaluation of your website will be positive.
- The padlock symbol and ‘https’ confirm instantly that your site is protected
- Increases the user’s trust and confidence.
If your SSL certificate needs a yearly renewal, you will be sent a renewal email – an Approve Certificate Request. This will come direct to you as you are the owner of the website.
You will need to follow the link and hit the approve button to reinstate your SSL certificate for another year.
Put the renewal date into a diary reminder system, so you don’t forget!
If you forget and the link expires, it will take time to request a new link and reinstate the SSL certificate.
You don’t want your visitors repelled by a Not Secure’ tag before your site’s URL, or a warning that the site cannot be loaded as the SSL certificate has expired!
In some cases, SSL certificates are free if they are on the same hosting and domain – so they don’t need a verification email – and your SSL certificate is automatically renewed.
If you’re uncertain about any aspects of SSL certification you can contact our expert on this number 07802 226937, or email sanderson@eikondesign.co.uk