The URL will start with : and you will see the lock icon indicating that you are in a secure and protected environment. Advertising Continue reading below This is what the connection looks like when I visit Amazon in Chrome: Amazon padlock image If you click on the green lock icon it will tell you if the site is private. Amazon Secure Connection Once you click on the details section confirming that the site is private, you will discover the certificate. Amazon Secure Connection Certificate Many websites use today. Let's take a look at what other industry experts have seen: Advertising Continue reading below In September 2014, Cyrus Shepard noted that only 4.2% of the top 10,000 websites use by default. In April 2016, Patrick Stox reported that less than 1% had made the switch to.
In June 2016, Ahrefs reported finding fax list that the percentage of secure pages at positions 1-3 was higher than at positions 4-10. In July 2016, reported that 30% of websites use . While these numbers and percentages may give you a headache, note that all of them were based on different data samples. But, they are all heading in the same direction with as an actionable and necessary SEO tactic. You can see it with companies like Let's Encrypt coming up. They offer free secure certificates and hope to bring businesses to 100% . So far, they've issued 5 million certificates since December 2015. Let's Encrypt has helped big companies like WordPress, Shopify, and Bitly make the switch. If you think of a company that makes you feel safe, you're probably thinking of The Brinks Company, ADT, NorthStar, or even the CIA.
Now, what if these companies were breached? How would that make you feel? Now consider this in the context of your website, and using doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore. Do you really want to risk your user's private information? Feelings of trust, safety, and , and they all contribute to a loyal customer. It's at the heart of every business. We want our users to come back. Advertising Continue reading below Thus, we know that benefits users for security. But let's talk about the benefits for SEO purposes. Security and privacy Yes, I think I hammered that above. But, there are amazing benefits for SEO purposes: verifies that your website is the one it is supposed to connect to. uses its superpower shield to prevent tampering by third parties. encrypts all your communication to protect your users' browsing history, passwords, creditdebit card numbers, etc.