Why is SSL Important for Your WordPress Website Security?

What is an SSL ?

SSL mainly stands for Secure Socket Layer, is one of the widely used security protocols. SSL provides security to the machines which are running over the internet or over the internal networks.

In the present Internet-centered world, the SSL convention is regularly utilized when an Internet browser needs to safely interface with a web server over the absolutely unreliable Internet.

Online purchasing is one of the top most priority has become of an individual and to a whole as well. Secure Sockets Layer certificates provide the secure connection of trust by establishing the security.

SSL comes with two major keys public and private key both are encrypted and gives the encrypted data to its users. Secure Sockets Layer takes care of the data security when passed between web server and browser.

With the development of the web, the answers for better security of sites increment – thus does the informativeness of cybercrimes as well.

For quite a long while now, associations like Google have been progressing in the direction of making the web a more secure place by urging site proprietors to utilize the HTTPS convention that guarantees the information sent from your PC to the website you’re perusing is encoded and safely transmitted.

What is an SSL Certificate? And How Important to Have an SSL Certificate?

Having an SSL ensures that the data which is being transferring from the website is secure and protected. Despite this important element of Secure Sockets Layer, many users and organizations have delayed for its adaptation due to the cost factor and implementation. But apart from the past, in present day having an SSL certificate has become much simple and easy to install because most of the initiatives made it free of cost.

SSL certificate is important because of the following factors:

Increasing Site Security:

SSL certificate helps to encrypt data from lost and damage which contains information such as login id, password, address, payment details, etc,. The data is being transferred from one website to another so having its security is much needed. Hence by having SSL certificate increases site security.

Safety of The Subdomains:

All domains and subdomains have been protected by having SSL certificate. Domains such as yahoo.com, blog.com etc., this is specially useful for a business owner and large firm IT sector head who maintains large websites with several subdomains. that why SLL important.

Credibility and Trust of a Customer:

The main aspect of having an SSL certificate is its credibility and the trust towards their customers. By having this one’s website comes with security. If one do not have Secure Sockets Layer certificate than it will show “unsafe” at the browsers site.

SEO Advantage:

Another advantage of having an SSL certificate is the SEO enhancement in rankings that your site will get. In accordance with their HTTPS wherever activity, Google gives sites with encoded associations a slight rankings help. In spite of the fact that the lift may not be considerable, having a SSL will give you preference over your rivals who don’t have authentications yet.

Now the Question Arises of How to Get This SSL Certificate ?

The simple and the easy way to get an SSL certificate is to check that your current website hosting provider provides any SSL certificate. Previously the SSL certificates were not free of cost but as the information technology increased and increasing day by day most of the large IT firms get in requirement of the SSL certificate for the security of their data.

So by having this in mind some of the IT firms professionals decided to come up with the idea of providing free SSL certificates. Recently the company has released Wildcard SSL certificate for free.

It is an essential to have a SSL important for your business site. With the advantage of SEO, trust, and site security, you get the opportunity to remain on top of things. HTTP is out of date; HTTPS is what’s to come.

How to Get HTTPS?

Step 1:

Get an SSL Certificate:
In above paragraph I showed you how to get an SSL certificate. You can either have a paid SSL certificate or a free one, the choice is fully depend on you.
Having an SSL certificate improves your website accessibility and improves the security of your website.

Step 2:

Force HTTPS on WP-Admin:
The first and the foremost thing is having a back-up of the data before it get lost. Forcing HTTPS on wp-admin is very important.
Add following code in your wp-config.php file above: “ that’s all, stop editing!” line:

define(‘FORCE_SSL_ADMIN’,true);

This shows HTTPS to dashboard friendly.

Step 3:

Change Site & Home URLs to HTTPS:

WordPress site should be updated for using these below instructions;
Go to settings> General
Add https:// www.mydomain.com/ in both site URL & Home URl fields
Make sure to replace mydomain.com with your domain name
Click “save changes”.

These steps can be unsafe here and there, particularly in the event that you will do it for an old site. I suggest utilizing Really Simple SSL WordPress module, which deals with this step consequently and tells you about different things you have to fix.

Step 4:

Search and Replace URLs to HTTPS:

If your URL link is old and not updated then it is recommended to you that you should update your links and follow the given procedures. Keep the back-up of your data before proceeding.
Install Better Search Replace plugin by Delicious Brains Inc.
Go to Tools> Better Search Replace to use the plugin
Search for “http:// your_domain.com” and replace it with the updated version i.e. “http://your_domain.com”.

Step 5:

Redirect HTTP to HTTPS:
If someone is using simple SSL plugin then this step is not mandatory. What about all the HTTP search listings? How do you tell Google to stop replace HTTP with HTTPS URLS? Simply, put a 301 redirect on all links.
Add following code in the .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule^(.*)$ https;//www.your_domain.com/$1
[R,L}

Then replace your_domain.com with your specified domain name. Implementing all these steps will ensure all pages are redirected to updated URL.

Hence for security and protection from damage or loss of data a security is a key factor for website security. And an Secure Sockets Layer is very important for domain, URL, websites, web browsers etc.,