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now google has over 200 search engine ranking factors that it actively considers
before ranking any website in the search engine results pages.
despite this knowledge however seo experts
rarely know exactly how certain algorithms actually work
google has obviously carefully safeguarded this information to avoid seo manipulation
and overtaking search engine rankings with unfair practices
in short google rarely says if you do this you will improve your site's rankings in the serps
what it mostly offers at best is vague and generic statements
such as create high quality content or get relevant and powerful links
however way way back on august 6th 2014
google did say something very specific and it still holds true today
google confirmed that websites with an ssl certificate
that is the https instead of the classic http
would get an added advantage in the serps
in particular google announced that if there are two similar websites with all things being equal
the website with an ssl certificate will have a slight advantage
over the other version of the site that does not have an ssl certificate
now to this day we still don't have a ton of concrete information about how
much an ssl certificate positively affects and improves the site's search engine rankings
but in this video we are going to take a more in-depth look at the clear information that we do have
at what the certificate does and how it affects seo and search rankings
so let's start with explaining exactly what an ssl certificate is and how it works
ssl stands for secure sockets layer and
as the name suggests it creates an additional layer of safety that protects
the information visitors choose to share with the website
ssl.com defines ssl as 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 the browser remains private
so when a visitor comes to an https website the ssl certificate ensures that whatever
information is shared it will not be leaked to anyone
the encrypted connection protects the information
that's the basic idea
now if you want to learn more about the basics of ssl certificates and secure websites
then feel free to read our beginner's guide to ssl and website security in our articles database
and hey why not while you're at it have
a field day and study just about every seo aspect under the sun
from beginner to expert tips tricks explanations and breakdowns
anyway moving on
now that you basically understand what ssl is and how it works
let's discuss its impact on a website's search engine ranking
it affects a website's search engine ranking in the following ways
number one it'll provide a boost
as we mentioned google has confirmed that a secure website with an ssl certificate
will have an advantage over other websites that are not as secure and encrypted
provided that all other seo factors remain the same
and again true calculating the precise impact of the ssl certificate
on a site's seo rankings can be difficult
for instance it would be hard to judge the real impact
when it is compared with another website in a similar niche
but that one has thousands of more powerful backlinks
in that caseperhaps the advantage of having over a thousand extra powerful backlinks
would be significantly more than the disadvantage
of not having an encrypted secure connection
and of course the same goes for other factors
so website owners should understand that having an ssl certificate
won't just magically propel your site to the top of the search engine results page
however if you're taking care of the other search engine ranking factors
and doing all the other important things right
then also having an ssl certificate will give you an always needed boost
to overtake those other websites particularly if you're in a tough and competitive niche
and to back this up there are several case studies that prove this boost in the search engine rankings
cloudtech experienced almost double the number of
top 10 search engine rankings after they switched from http to https
Brian Dean from Backlinko also studied the possible impact
of HTTPS on a site’s rankings in the SERPs.
he teamed up with similar web with smart muse ahrefs and
semrush to acquire the necessary data and found that quote
https is moderately correlated with higher search engine rankings on google's first page
so these are some of the direct effects of https on the site's search engine rankings
but apart from these an ssl certificate also indirectly affects
the site's rankings and improves its bottom line
because number two it improves seo by improving the user experience
there's no doubt that an ssl certificate a safe and secure website
significantly improves the user experience
for instance if a person lands on an unsafe website
he or she would see visible indicators that this site is not secure and they should stop browsing there
google chrome in particular is determined to make sure of this
by explicitly shaming unencrypted websites
google chrome is creating the much needed awareness about internet security
among its general users
and as a consequence they are now much more educated aware
and hesitant to visit these unencrypted sites
so especially if you're trying to acquire any personal information on http websites
that is those without ssl certificates
such as contact or user profile information
then this is getting even more difficult
the point here is that websites that offer a poor user experience
can never consistently rank on the top positions in the serps
and unencrypted websites without ssl certificates
simply fail to deliver a good secure user experience
suppose an online user searches for a particular keyword and
finds your website via google
sweet business yay for you
they click on it they come to your home page
and happily start to fill out a form
but hang on pump the brakes
they're instantly greeted with a google chrome indicator that
the website is not secure
then chances are they're going to go their merry way
turning their back on you within mere seconds of having discovered you organically
and not only do you lose that visitor
google also notices this behavior and makes a little note about it
and if too many website visitors do the same thing
which they likely would in this particular case
then google will ultimately demote your website in the serps
and because so many people are jumping ship on the website so soon after landing on it
it would very much appear that your website is not worthy of being ranked so high for that keyword
so just like with many other seo factors
the indirect effect of having an unsafe and unencrypted website
eventually leads to a demotion in the search engine results pages
it's a domino effect that pushes it down and down and down
and from here fewer traffic views mean fewer opportunities for creating backlinks
for getting viral traffic for getting higher engagement rates and so on
all of your good efforts can totally unravel
convinced you'd certainly better be if you want to survive and thrive in
today's digital landscape you need to have an encrypted website
so make sure that you have an appropriate ssl certificate for your site
and that it is 100 encrypted and safe for your visitors
if you're not sure of what type of ssl certificate you need
then either read our article on the different types of ssl certificates
or watch our video dedicated specifically to how to install one
feel free to check out our other videos
so you can keep fine-tuning and getting the most out of your seo
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to get you to the top of the search engine results pages