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.
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
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.
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.
Registration Prices For SSL Certificates
→ £39 (+VAT) – SSL
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.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
_grecaptcha | session | Google reCAPTCHA uses this cookie to help identify bots and prevent abuse of the website |
_lscache_vary | 2 days | This cookie is used to store whether you are logged into the site and what your user role is. It us used to help improve site performance for logged in users. |
comment_author_[hash] | 347 days | Used to tracked comment author name, if “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” is checked. |
comment_author_email_[hash] | 347 days | Used to tracked comment author email, if “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” is checked |
comment_author_url_[hash] | 347 days | Used to track comment author URL, if “Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.” checkbox is checked. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
ls_smartpush | 2 months | This cookie is set by Litespeed Server and allows the server to store settings to help improve performance of the site. |
PHPSESSID | 1 year | This cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed. |
viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
wordpress_[hash] | 1 year | This cookie is used to store your authentication details when logging in. |
wordpress_logged_in_[hash] | 14 days | This cookie stores whether or not you are logged into the site. |
wordpress_test_cookie | 1 year | This cookie tests if cookies are enabled on your browser, so we can provide you with the appropriate user experience. |
wp-settings-{time}-[UID] | 1 year | This is used to customise the view of the website for logged in users. |