Free SSL Security is Now Included!
Great news for Your Web Hosting’s website owners and their visitors: AutoSSL is now included and enabled on most of our hosting solutions, providing free, automated, basic SSL security .
Why should you care? Some facts:
- Security – 85% of online shoppers avoid unsecure websites.
- Speed – 40% of them will leave a website that takes 3 seconds or more to load, with every additional second of delay reducing conversions by a further 7%.
- Google Ads – Google Ads (formerly AdWords), now advises that 100% of ads should be directed to an https protected site as part of Google’s initiative to create a safer Internet. Furthermore, though the exact parameters of the quality score, which affects how much you pay per click, in Google Ads are a closely guarded secret, it is reasonable to assume that having an SSL certificate or not affects that score.
AutoSSL helps enhance security while improving your website’s loading speed.
SSL Gives your Website Visitors the Security They Deserve
How can you tell if a site has safety measures in place?
If you look at the address bar when on a website, you can see that a site has protection when the web address begins with https (the ‘s’ indicates a protected website).
This protection comes from SSL certificates. SSL encrypts data (like passwords and credit card information) sent between the website and the visitor’s browser so that hackers cannot easily intercept and decode it.
With AutoSSL, your website is automatically protected with SSL and helps your visitors stay safe and have confidence when purchasing your products and services online. AutoSSL certificates are issued and renewed automatically by Comodo (update: rebranded as Sectigo) as long as your domain name is working and linking correctly to your Solutionz-eWeb’s account or server.
SSL Enables HTTP/2, Making Your Site Faster
HTTP/2 is the latest update to the Internet’s website transmission protocol (HTTP), and allows your website to load up to 4 times faster. Most modern browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, will only take advantage of HTTP/2 if your website has SSL enabled.
HTTP/2 is now available by default across all of Solutionz-eWeb’s services. Combined with AutoSSL, your visitors will be able to quickly benefit from the additional performance boost.
How Do I Enable AutoSSL and HTTP/2?
If you are using Pro or Enterprise Web Hosting, Dedicated Servers then both are enabled by default. To actually start using them, you’ll want to configure your website to use https instead of http in the address bar. The specifics on how to do this may vary depending on your website, and may include forcing the use of SSL through a setting in your account.
What if I Need More Than Basic SSL?
For websites generating more than 10,000$ in yearly revenue or storing and exchanging sensitive data, Your Web Hosting recommends premium SSL certificates, which include professional installation, site seals, warranty levels, and extended validation.
Enjoy the new features and Happy Hosting!
By Marc Pilon
Sercurity & SSL FAQ
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a technology used to encrypt data being transmitted between your visitors and the servers in order to prevent eavesdropping. This is particularly crucial when sensitive information such as credit card numbers or passwords are being entered on your website, as is often the case for online stores, contact forms, or password-protected sections. Sites secured by an SSL certificate will show a padlock in the address bar and may choose to display a special site seal to certify that data transmissions are protected.
If you sell items online, have password-protected sections on your website, host online forms requesting personal information, or send sensitive emails from your domain, you are strongly encouraged to obtain an SSL certificate. Not only will this enhance your account’s security, it will increase the level of trust your visitors have in your website, and will often result in increased conversion rates and sales.
As of January 2015, Google has also started using SSL protection as a ranking algorithm for its search engines. As a result, a website with an SSL certificate will rank higher than a similar website without one. As such, we strongly recommend all website owners to seriously consider protecting their entire site with SSL, regardless of the type of activity being conducted.
If you are using a simple HTML website, using your SSL certificate simply involves changing your links (or URLs) from “http” to “https”. All https pages will automatically be encrypted with your SSL certificate. If you are using a Content Management System (including E-Commerce applications), there will generally be an option in your settings allowing you to easily enable SSL.
If you require any assistance activating SSL settings on your website following an SSL certificate’s installation, please contact our friendly support team and we’ll be happy to assist.