[Video] Don't Scare Away Web Traffic: Learn How to Secure Your Website
Associated with
Jessica Bonacci Jessica Bonacci
5 min read
[Video] Don't Scare Away Web Traffic: Learn How to Secure Your Website

Google announced back in 2014 that SSL was now a small ranking factor in their algorithm. Before we talk about how you can fix this "not secure" issue, let's talk about exactly what it means.

Without getting overly technical, a not secure warning means that your website is using HTTP instead of HTTPS. These protocols are how information is passed back and forth between your computer and the website server. The S in HTTPS means that SSL encryption is enabled, which helps encrypt and protect data passed back and forth between your machine and the web server.

Basically, if your website says "not secure," it's easier for people to gain access to sensitive information shared across HTTP like credit card data, passwords, medical information-basically anything sent between your browser and the web server. Not secure doesn't necessarily mean that your website has been hacked or that you have a virus on there, but it tells a user not to trust the site with their information.