I am totally confused about this matter. My hosting provider doesn’t allow ssl certificate. I want to know, is SSL certificate important fact for SEO? Now what can I do? Is there any option to install SSL without Cpanel? Any wordpress plugin? which works without Cpanel installation?
I know Google said they will give preference to sites that have SSL.
Easy answer to your problem - move hosts.
3 Likes
If your host doesn’t provide SSL certificates, I wonder what else they can’t do.
3 Likes
does your site have login/accounts? I believe this is mostly what google cares about. Google chrome also warns you if you are on a site that has a signup form on an unsecure connection.
If your site is just a information type site that has no login then i can’t see that it matters that much. What would it be securing? If you have login or signup to enews etc then you would need ssl for sure.
For example when i google ‘cats’ the front page contains http://www.newstartcatrescue.org.uk/ which is not secure. Admittedly it is the last item but it is firstpage on the SERP.
1 Like
I believe Google does look at SSL as one of over 200 ranking factors. Where there is no requirement for a site to use SSL, as @Noppy has said, I think its effect is unlikely to influence things very much. There are more important factors.
However this:
I find worrying. Why would any hosting company not allow SSL? Hence my advice to find a new company, because that just doesn’t sound right to me.
2 Likes
If your hosting company is not providing you the SSL certificate then just switch to another hosting company.Because as per now it is not useful to you but it can affect you in the future.
Yes, an SSL certificate is needed to improve your position on SERP after Google update of HTTPS. It also identifies the website / company is genuine, verified and trusted.
1 Like
Google’s guidelines state:
We encourage you to adopt HTTPS in order to protect your users’ connections to your website, regardless of the content on the site.
There is nothing that I can see which suggests there is any effect on SEO at present. There is no mention of it in Google’s “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide”, which covers all the basics.
SSL Certificate definitely has an effect on SEO.
Do you have a reputable source to back up that assertion? As stated above, I can find nothing in Google’s guidelines to say this is the case.
Few Points:
-
When a User Visit on a site which doesn’t have the SSL Certificate almost every browser shows something like it’s not secure.
-
This indicates bad User Experience, Low Trust and Authority.
-
And Google announced HTTPS as a ranking signal. Here is a good study- https://neilpatel.com/blog/does-a-ssl-certificate-affect-your-seo-a-data-driven-answer/
Hope that clarifies your confusion.
Even better, that article points to an article from Google itself, which is a lot more canonical: https://security.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal_6.html
1 Like
Thanks, @rpkamp. That’s what I wanted, but it didn’t show up in a search on Google Search Console help.
We’ve seen positive results, so we’re starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal. For now it’s only a very lightweight signal—affecting fewer than 1% of global queries, and carrying less weight than other signals such as high-quality content—while we give webmasters time to switch to HTTPS. But over time, we may decide to strengthen it, because we’d like to encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.
So yes it has an effect, but a very minor one, according to that article.
True, but it’s an article from 2014 and it also says
But over time, we may decide to strengthen it, because we’d like to encourage all website owners to switch from HTTP to HTTPS to keep everyone safe on the web.
(emphasis mine)
So it’s probably higher now 
1 Like
They also say:
In the coming weeks, we’ll publish detailed best practices (we’ll add a link to it from here) to make TLS adoption easier, and to avoid common mistakes.
But I don’t see that link …
The article I linked to above contains “best practice” advice for implementing HTTPS, but as I said, makes no mention of it having any effect on SEO, and their recently-updated beginners’ guide says nothing beyond “Google recommends that all websites use https:// when possible.”, as a passing comment on URLs. I would expect more information if it is now a significant factor.
Your first 2 points have nothing to do with SEO.
1 Like
SSL doesn’t impact your SEO directly. But it helps increase your site trust and user is more likely to engage with your site.
Means, it influences user-experience and also encourage Google to serve your site’s results to the user.
SSL is a ranking factor. I recommend that you switch your hosting provider. My company has developed a site for language learning. We are required to use SSL to integrate Facebook login. Users will trust your website more, when they can see the green secure sign.
Gonna be honest, the only time I even notice that green sign is if i’m typing in sensitive information such as if i’m purchasing something.
If you put SSL on your digital business card site (read: a billboard, not… a site that sells business cards.), noone’s going to notice except the bots. If you’re doing actual sensitive things, such as pay gateways, account areas, etc, then yeah it can be noticeable.