Google is making it mandatory to have an SSL Certificate for your website. Google is going to flag your website this year if you do not have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate. Soon, all websites without an SSL Certificate will display a “Not Secure” warning page on Google Chrome, instead of the true content of that website. This will automatically make your audience assume your website is a danger, even if this is not the case.
An SSL Certificate is an added layer of security, which encrypts the data passed between a web server and a browser, through an encrypted link. A secure connection cannot be obtained if you do not have an SSL Certificate, thus making it mandatory to have one, if you do not want Google flagging your website as “Not Secure”. This will result in visitors to your website not proceeding, because they assume your site is dangerous after seeing the warning page Google Chrome shows them instead of the website you took time and effort to put together.
Do not ignore this change Google is implementing this year. This is important for everyone with a website, and everyone who uses the internet to access small and large websites.
Having an SSL Certificate might have seemed like a choice in the past, but it is now something you must do to make sure your website is visible. If you were waiting for a push to finally get an SSL Certificate, this is it. Do not wait around for Google to flag your website before acting. This decision was in an effort to make Google Chrome users feel more secure across the internet, but it also feels like an attack against smaller businesses, many of which may not know this is happening, limiting their time to prepare their respective websites.
Before long, Google will mark every website without a SSL Certificate as “Not Secure”. Anyone trying to access your website will get a page telling them to turn back now, because the site they are trying to access is not secure. If you want to keep your audience, an SSL Certificate is mandatory. This is especially important if your website displays text input fields. Google is flagging these websites first, so if you have a small business where you sell products from your website, you should add a SSL Certificate to your website as soon as possible.
This flagging will soon impact all websites without SSL Certificates, so be sure to act fast, so you are not left in the dark when the visibility of your websites greatly declines. Please understand how important this is to the future of your websites. Having an SSL Certificate should not be seen as a choice now, but a necessity in order to maintain and grow the audience of your website.
Please take action, and make sure your website is not one of the many now hidden behind “Not Secure” messages.