Google Wants to Give Ranking Boosts to Https Secure Websites
When you run and operate a website, you should strive to keep it in order and under control. When doing so, clients and potential ones will check out your site and enjoy your content. Otherwise, if you have a lot of issues with your Web pages, you will cost yourself some business. Furthermore, Google takes this into consideration when looking at website rankings and where to place your site in the organic rankings. With this in mind, Google now looks at secure websites and gives them an extra boost. Here are a few reasons why Google values safe websites.
Legitimacy
Above all else, when determining SEO rankings, Google will want to discover and reward sites that are real. Now, this may sound funny, but in the past, plenty of site owners would make fake websites full of spam or targeted offers. This was not good for visitors as they would not enjoy any true value from the website. When discovering a spam or fake site, Google will knock it out of oblivion and the site owner will not see any traffic.
For this reason, it is obviously important that you show Google and the other search endings that you mean business. When seeing a secure site, Google will know that you have a real website with a legitimate product or service. In reality, a spammer or someone who wants to make a cheap AdSense site will not take much time to use SSL or other methods to secure a site. For this reason alone, if you want to do well in the organic rankings, you must set up your site with https ability. When doing so, you will go a long way in maintaining stable rankings.
Long-term
If you have SSL on your site, it is obvious to most people that you plan to stick around for the long-term. This is important to Google as they want to give their customers value. You must realize, when looking for something important, people will trust Google and will want to land on a website offering true value to its users. Otherwise, in the long run, Google will suffer as the leading search engine wants clients to find what they seek. So, when you think about it, you will understand why Google would want to place an SSL site on the first pages for many keywords.
In the long run, even if you do not have a login system or credit card payment setup, you should consider an SSL certificate as you will go a long way in showing Google and other search engines you are serious about your online ventures and value the long-term strategy you have laid out. Otherwise, your site will look like any other and you will struggle to get on the first page of Google.
Quality
As mentioned, Google has, and always will, value a quality Web page. Meaning, when looking at a page with a lot of great information and plenty of happy customers, you will likely encounter a website with https security.
Think about it for a minute. When you land on a great site such as your email provider, bank or even a local restaurant, it probably has an SSL certificate. Without this, many will leave the site as they will not want to leave it up to chance. As people use other devices and become more aware of the situation, they are likely to convert to this way of thinking. When this happens, not only will you get more traffic, but current clients are likely to stay on your site. For this reason, if you want to do well in the organic search rankings and see your site thrive, you must have an up-to-date SSL certificate. Simply put, if you are truly in it for the long-term, you need to invest a small amount of cash in getting your site secure for every user.
Luckily, with a bit of cash and a couple of hours of your time, you can do so with ease. Then, in the short and long run, you will see your site thrive as people from all over will enjoy a site of high quality with all the necessary safety precautions
Throw up fewer errors
One metric Google takes a look at is the errors on your page. When using old and outdated code, you are likely to cause browser errors to your visitors. While this may not seem like a big deal on your end, it can cause a visitor to grow frustrated. Other times, people with older or outdated computers will struggle to load your website. For this reason, you should take the time to buy and install an SSL certificate. With this ten-minute job, you will see your pages load without any errors. Furthermore, people will take notice and feel more secure about going to your website.
If you have any sort of errors, whether with your SSL certificate or code, you need to fix them quickly as your site will never recover in the rankings and you will have a hard time impressing customers. Remember, with one or two errors, you can see an otherwise perfect site suffer in the organic search rankings.
So, if you can fix it up and make sure it is secure, you will have an upper hand against your competition. This is true even if they have an older page with more content as small errors will kill their SEO strategy.
Visitors
Now when looking at your site, Google will take notice when you have a lot of people come and stay for a long time. On the other hand, when you have a high bounce rate, you will see your site suffer. A bounce rate is the rate in which a person comes to your site and leaves without clicking another link on your site. When a potential client lands on your site, they will want to see a secure page. When they do not, they are likely to leave your site never to return.
On the other hand, if you have a secure site and let customers know this, you will rise in the rankings as Google values a site where people stay for a long time. This is a smart reason for you to rush out and install an SSL certificate. While this is true, you must make sure to do it right as one error can cause you to waste your time and money. Without a doubt, once you test it and make sure it works well, you should advertise this fact and let clients know your site is fully secured.
If you run a website, you must think of the future. While it is easy to make one on the cheap, you must invest in a few things. For starters, you should build a great site that people enjoy. Not only that, you must offer relevant, interesting and unique content that will set your site ahead of the competition. Finally, you must install an SSL certificate as customers will take notice. Furthermore, with https, Google and the leading search engines will value your site and you will see it zoom to the top for many organic search terms.
