Is your Business worth a cup of Coffee a week? Because it seems that many site owners out there don't seem to think so!
And unfortunately for those people, Google are now telling their site visitors exactly how much value they actually place on it.
I'm talking about SSL encryption! Because for the past few years Google has been telling people how important it is to have SSL security encryption on their websites. We first brought it to your attention over two years ago in SSL for SEO.
Since that time we've updated you on the increased importance that Google (and other search engines) have been applying to it. In fact Google has even gone as far as to confirm they are interpreting the presence of an SSL certificate as a criteria in search engine positioning.....as we announced back in July 2015 in GOOGLE AND SSL SECURITY.
Now things have moved on again! In the past Google were giving incentives for site owners to put this in place. Now they're potentially penalising insecure sites by warning users that it could be a risk to their personal security. Effectively they're saying "We've given you two years to put this in place.....you haven't bothered, so now you're going to be penalised".
They're doing this by showing a warning icon in the browser address bar if SSL security is not in place. Prior to this, it was just a fairly innocuous blank icon of a page.....but now it's a large "I" denoting important information. Here you can see the difference between safe and unsafe sites:
As you see, WebSpain is in green with the padlock displayed, while the insecure site has the "I" icon. And when the user clicks that icon they are told "This page is not secure".
We didn't even notice that this system had been put in place! It was only when a client contacted us about one of their customers being reluctant to fill in an online form due to the risk of data theft, that we became aware of it.
As we've covered before, SSL encryption protects you and your clients from the risk of data theft and phishing. It also gives you potentially improved search engine positioning, while enhancing professionalism and client confidence. Additionally, you are protected from anybody else on the server getting the shared IP address blacklisted.
Ultimately it's your choice on whether you choose to implement it......we are just making you aware of the direction that things are headed. Taking this further, if they decide to redirect straight to their full page insecure message then users will see this:
Personally, I wouldn't bet against them putting an "Unsafe Site" warning in the search listings as well. Be aware that this isn't going to go away! If anything, they'll up the ante even further! So I would suggest that you address this issue now.....before your business starts getting disrupted.
Look at the benefits of SSL encryption......and balance that against the cost! It isn't even 2 Euros a week, which basically equates to a cup of coffee! Our businesss is most definitely worth a cup of coffee a week......is yours?
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