More and more often we hear experts talking about online security. But, have you ever stopped to check in detail the protection mechanisms of your business website? Are you sure you have different layers of protection activated?
In this article we want to explain one of the most important concepts when talking about website security: HTTPS.
Long gone are the days when this term was only recommended for businesses that had online sales. Now everyone, including you, must make sure to implement this security protocol.
What does HTTPS mean and what is it for?
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, better known as HTTPS, is nothing more than the result of the combination of the HTTP and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols.
It is a security and authentication protocol applied in web browsers and servers that adds three layers of security (encryption, data integrity and authentication).
This makes it difficult for data to be seen by anyone or to be breached by a cyber attack.
Additionally, this protocol protects the information through the public key infrastructure, which assigns two keys (one public and one private) to encrypt the communication between the two computers.
The private key is under the control of the website owner, is hosted on a web server and is used to decrypt the data encrypted by the public key. The public key is available to anyone who wants to interact with the server in a secure way, and guarantees that any data that is entered there will be encrypted.
In fact, if we check how the information is sent through these protocols, we can realize that instead of the text appearing as the original, what we see is a series of characters that seem to make no sense.
For all these reasons, whenever you are going to share personal information on a website, such as your credit card details or your home or office address, make sure that it is a page with the HTTPS protocol enabled.
You can see this just by looking at the navigation bar, on the left hand side there should be a closed padlock icon (as shown in the image below).
Difference between HTTP and HTTPS
The first thing we must make clear is that the HTTPS protocol is not unrelated to HTTP. The main difference is that HTTPS works hand in hand with the TLS security certificate, formerly known as SSL certificate, while HTTP sends information as it is in its original version.
This makes it much more vulnerable and accessible to anyone who wants to get it.
On the other hand, HTTP works in a way that encrypts the information and avoids leaving it in the hands of the wrong person.
In other words, HTTPS is a secure protocol for transferring information between two computers and is highly recommended for any website, especially those where there are electronic transactions or where personal or sensitive data of third parties is handled.
What kind of data does HTTPS protect?
Basically, by activating the HTTPS protocol on your website you are letting your visitors and users know that practically all data (including users, passwords, banking and personal data) exchanged between two computers is encrypted and protected.
However, due to the DNS and connection configuration, there are certain data that any intruder could get to know: domains and subdomains, the source IP address, the estimated time spent on the page, etc.
HTTPS and SEO: a friendly relationship?
By now you might be wondering what is the relationship between HTTPS and the SEO of your website. The truth is that it is very close. For some years now, Google has been taking into consideration the security and trustworthiness of websites as an influential factor in the evaluation for ranking among its results.
Beyond that, the fact that users feel confident when browsing your site helps to reduce the bounce rate and, consequently, increase their time spent on your site. Both indicators are very important to position you among the first options in search engine results on the Internet.
Why does your website need HTTPS?
Now, beyond understanding how HTTPS works, what is really important is that we make clear the reasons why you should apply it on your website, even if you do not have an online store or request sensitive information.
First of all, the closed padlock icon in the navigation bar is an element that transmits security to all those users who visit your site.
This will make them feel more comfortable to continue browsing it and, in case they are interested, share their email or any other information you might ask them for.
Regardless of the price of web design, remember that the more secure a website is, the more likely a user will stay on it longer, thus reducing your bounce rate.
On the other hand, web browsers such as Google take HTTPS into consideration as an element of quality and security when evaluating and ranking a website.
Even, in those that only have the HTTP protocol, they make a notification appear in the navigation bar alerting users that the connection is not secure.
Another reason, and for us one of the most important, is that the fact that websites have their HTTPS certificate is a way to assure the visitor or user that they are entering a real page.
That is, it is an external verification that lets you know that the web server is really who it claims to be and that you are not entering a site created with the intention of stealing information or becoming a victim of cybercrime.
Finally, and as we have said before, all the information that is shared between using the transfer protocol is encrypted and out of reach of hackers or outsiders. This includes access data (username and password), personal information, bank details and so on.
Secure your website now
As you can see, there are more than enough reasons for any website to migrate from an HTTP to an HTTPS certificate. In fact this is not a very complex process but it will require time and resources to make it work properly.
The first thing you need to do is to acquire the TSL/SSL certificate. In any web browser you can find a wide variety of options, even nowadays companies that offer hosting services are adding these certificates among their products at no cost.
We invite you to do a little research and choose the one that fits your budget and needs.
Once you have completed the purchase of the certificate you must install it on your website. To do this we recommend you to hire, or use, a web development agency and avoid errors that may occur in this process.
In addition, this agency must verify that the TSL/SSL is working correctly on all the pages that make up your website.
Finally, you must notify Google that you have completed the migration to HTTPS so that they proceed to re-index your page in their database. This must be done from Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
In a short time you will be able to see the benefits of having increased the security of your website’s data transmission.
