SSL Certificate on WordPress Blog

Does it make much of a difference if my WordPress blogs have a SSL Certificate? Does it help you rank in the search engines if you do?

Thanks

4. Improved Google Rankings
Google’s HTTPS Everywhere initiative alone guarantees a slight ranking boost for websites which offer HTTPS by default. Know in advance that this boost alone isn’t dramatic or, let alone, a silver bullet as people often try to represent it.

This ranking boost is what Google calls a “very lightweight signal” meaning that you’ll have a very, very small advantage over your competitors who don’t use HTTPS yet and that implementing HTTPS alone most likely won’t push you to the top of search results as there are much more important signals, such as high-quality content and high-authority backlinks.

The most important thing to understand about the value of HTTPS for Google rankings is that combining the migration itself with the previously mentioned benefits which also guarantee improved rankings (website speed from HTTP/2 – especially on mobile, increased CTR from using HTTPS schema in URL – yes, CTR is a ranking signal) makes a combo which can result in a meaningful rankings improvement.

This is what is called a holistic approach, a sinergy of individual components which provides more value than each individual component alone.

HTTPS Everywhere talk by Ilya Grigorik and Pierre Far from Google I/O 2014 for those looking into migration to HTTPS. They are discussing some interesting aspects of the entire process as well as busting decade-old myths (please disregard any mention of SPDY protocol as it was deprecated in 2016 in favor of the HTTP/2).


Google has a dedicated Secure your site with HTTPS article in Search Console’s Help section which offers some best practices and points to some common pitfalls in the process. Additionally, their Site Move help article has an FAQ covering some burning questions in regards to website migration to HTTPS and its benefits.

Source: https://fourdots.com/blog/why-you-need-ssl-to-rank-better-in-2016-and-how-to-set-it-2169

#UseGoogle

Everybody says it helps. I think it helps. Just get it, okay. Most hosting providers offer free SSL nowadays, so just find a hosting that will give you free SSL, do what you have to do to implement it on your websites, and you don't have to worry about it anymore

Scorpion Ghost said:

Everybody says it helps. I think it helps. Just get it, okay. Most hosting providers offer free SSL nowadays, so just find a hosting that will give you free SSL, do what you have to do to implement it on your websites, and you don't have to worry about it anymore

Click to expand...

I was not aware that the SSL was free until this week. I found a host that offers them for free. Thanks

fredwyatt7777 said:

I was not aware that the SSL was free until this week. I found a host that offers them for free. Thanks

Click to expand...

I don't blame you. One of the biggest hosts online - Hostgator - had no free SSL until very recently. In fact, their SSL was super expensive. But then Chrome did that thing a month or so ago where it would start displaying all non-https sites as insecure, and so Hostgator (at the last moment, at the very last moment) finally gave all their customers free SSL.

Good luck

yes this will rank according to new rules of google. the different pages on your website like about us contact us privacy policy and disclaimer is also important.

its used it give edge previously as many blogs didn't use https but now its mostly mandatory so if you are not using, you might lose. so just get it.