SSL Certificates

What is a SSL certificate?

If you visit a website without a SSL certificate the communication between your website and a visitor is not encrypted. This means that your connection to that wesite can porentially be eavesdropped on and modified, meaning any passwords or confidential information sent to the site could be stolen.

While this isn’t a big issue if you have a simple informatonal website, if you have a website that deals with passwords or confidential information, this can be a big problem.

There is a solution however – you encrypt the connection. between the computer and the server, making the connection secure.  To do this requires what is known as a SSL certificate.

Do I need a SSL certificate?

The short answer is yes, you should use one! In particular, it is essential you use one if your website:

→ is an online shop

→ allows users to log in

→ collects confidential information

My site doesn’t do any of those things, do I still need it?

Google will rank sites higher if they use an SSL certificate

Google has indicated that it will rank sites higher if they use an encrypted connection, meaning that installing a SSL certificate may result in more website visitors.

Your site will load faster

If you have an SSL certificate installed, it allows your website to communicate with your browser using a more modern protocol called HTTP/2.

A site that is HTTP/2 compatible will load much faster that one that is not, potentially halving the load time of your web page. Since page speed is important both as a search ranking factor and for the user experience, installing an SSL can have real benefits.

How can I tell a site is encrypted and uses a SSL certificate?

You can tell that a site uses SSL because the address in your web browser will start with https rather than http. A padlock icon will also appear in the address bar, showing that it is secure.

Ordering: How much does it cost?

Registration Prices For SSL Certificates
→ £39 (+VAT) – SSL for 1 year
→ £59 (+VAT) – SSL for 2 years
→ £74 (+VAT) – SSL for 3 years

If you site is not encrypted and you wish us to get your website SSL ready there may be  be a one-off setup fee of approximately £30. Please note that this fee is a guideline, amount and may vary depending on the type of website you have, however it is rare that we have to charge a higher fee.