SSL Certification simply put, is that little lock symbol you see beside the website name. But it is more than just a symbol or something to show your clients your site is safe!
This little symbol does a lot for you! Firstly SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. So, what does that mean? It basically takes any information you or your customer might have entered on the website and scrambles those files making the information extremely hard to decipher for hackers.
Google wants to ensure internet users can easily recognize whether sites are safe or not. As part of the “HTTPS Everywhere” movement, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari have have started to make SSL certifications a minimum requirement.

Google Ranking is punished if your website does not have an SSL Cert and as a result your website will show lower on related searches. If your website does not include an SSL Certificate, then your google ranking is lower which means people searching for products you sell will likely be presented with your competitors website first.

You can of course run your website without an SSL Cert, but the benefits to having one, far outweigh the negatives. If you want your website to be taken seriously, you need to include an SSL Certificate.

– Brute force Protection
Any site that requires a customer account has a login area. There is purpose-built software which is designed to try different combinations to guess your password no matter how safe you think it is. This software will go through each letter, number and character, until it gets a result.

I add Google recaptcha to your site as standard which is designed to stop such software running on your website. This software is commonly known as “I’m not a robot tick box from google”. Along with this I also add a high level of security that puts limits on login attempts, blocks users and IP addresses. On request I can also setup a two-step authentication system on logins.

– Spam Protection
Having your website is great but what about all those spam e-mails you get about needing things you don’t and people using your contact forms to advertise to you. Google recapthca (as mentioned above) will be installed throughout your website making sure these types of emails are kept to a minimum.

Your website can be hacked through several ways:

• files you upload to your site
• you have a weak password
• you share your login with too many staff.

Normally it has nothing to do with you and even if you have software like Norton, McAfee or AVG anti virus installed on your device, it will not stop the hack as your website is most likely being attacked from someone on their own device through code.