As most of you are aware Google have been talking about making Google Chrome report to the user when they are visiting a non-secure site for some time now. Before i go into this any further they have not yet reported any plans to implement this, however when they do implement it will be on a browser update which could take your site from hero to zero overnight.
There are implications to not having an SSL
- You are not securing the data between your visitor and your website.
- Visitors are becoming more savvy regarding using sites that are not secured.
- Some are wary of none secure sites and some will not use them at all.
- For some visitors it could appear you don’t care about their security.
- Google have also stated that they give extra weight in ranking to https:// secure sites.
- If you have an eCommerce site you are losing sales, yes you read that correctly, YOU ARE LOSING SALES!
I am one of those people that if given a choice, and the internet is a big place then i don’t use a site that’s not secure. Of course if its just information gathering then i will be very cautious. However i would never fill in a form thats not secure, you wouldnt even get my email or phone number.
Now that’s my perspective and many like me I am sure.
Reasons for having an SSL http://
- You care that the data is secure between your visitor and your site.
- You want your visitors to trust you.
- You care about your website’s reputation.
- You care about your visitors’ security and data.
- You want your site to perform the best it can in Google.
- You want your visitors to interact with your site.
- You want more sales.
Interestingly Google have not set a date for Google Chrome to report in-secure sites but the feature is already in the browser, and i am going to show you how to find it. I use this all the time and its a great way for the browser to flag a site that’s not secure. You can then make the decision if you want to input your data or not; I recommend you don’t.
Below is an image that shows the site in the standard Chrome setting.
Open a new tab in Chrome and type chrome://flags/ in the address bar
You will now see the following page
Now to set the browser to warn you of insecure sites
Search for the following Mark non-secure origins as non-secure and in the drop down menu select Mark non-secure origins as non-secure and save.
Now take a look at a site without an SSL, the RED X is now showing.
I am going to give you two recommendations here with this setting page
- Leave the setting as it is, however you can set it back to default if you don’t
- Don’t touch anything in this page that you don’t understand, it can break things.
So as Google have added this and people are using it like myself, maybe you need to think about what an SSL can do for your site, or even better think about what the lack of an SSL says about your site or company.
Please keep a lookout on on our news page, Twitter feed and Facebook page, as we have some interesting news on this front coming soon.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
