{"id":1020,"date":"2018-07-30T10:44:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-30T10:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sslrenewals.com\/blog\/?p=1020"},"modified":"2021-11-25T08:33:55","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T08:33:55","slug":"do-i-need-an-ssl-certificate-for-my-wordpress-website-heres-the-answer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sslrenewals.com\/blog\/do-i-need-an-ssl-certificate-for-my-wordpress-website-heres-the-answer","title":{"rendered":"Do I Need an SSL Certificate for My WordPress Website? Here\u2019s the Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have a WordPress site; do I need an SSL certificate? Let\u2019s find out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a WordPress website? Are you wondering whether you need an SSL certificate or not? Well, you couldn’t have landed on a better page. In this post, we’ll try to answer all the questions about SSL for WordPress that you have to leave you in peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, let\u2019s understand what an SSL\/TLS certificate is, and what it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So, what is an SSL certificate?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u2018SSL certificate\u2019 doesn\u2019t sound like a website security solution, but you know what? It is. While browsing on the internet, you’d have noticed two things \u2013 HTTP & HTTPS. You don’t have to be the most attentive person in the world to see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HTTP is an internet protocol used for communication over the internet; the same way HTTPS is. The difference \u2013as you can see\u2014lies in the \u2018S.\u2019 This \u2018S\u2019 stands for secure. So when the communication takes place through HTTPS, the information is secured through encryption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do you get HTTPS? Yes, you guessed it right\u2014you get an SSL certificate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SSL stands for \u2018Secure Socket Layer,’ and it’s a cryptographic protocol used for encrypting data-in-transit. It’s the technology lying underneath an SSL certificate. Note that SSL is the predecessor of the protocol used currently\u2014TLS (Transport Layer Security).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So shouldn\u2019t we be calling them TLS certificates? Well, we should be. However, the term \u2018SSL certificate<\/a>\u2019 is used extensively because we\u2019ve gotten used to that term. However, the technology\/protocol behind an SSL certificate is TLS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"SSL<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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What does an SSL certificate do?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An SSL certificate has two primary functions\u2014encryption and authentication. Let\u2019s talk about the former first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re using a website, your system (PC\/Tablet\/Mobile) communicates with the server of that website. What if a hacker establishes him\/herself in between and intercepts and alters the data to his\/her advantage? What if this data is your credit card information? S\/he could cause havoc. To keep the data away from the reaches of ill-intended entities, an SSL\/TLS certificate encrypts the data and turns it into an unreadable format. In such a precarious world of internet, this is of paramount importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now let\u2019s talk about the authentication part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suppose there\u2019s a site named xyz.com which claims to be belonging to XYZ corporation. But how do you make sure that it’s XYZ that’s running the website xyz.com? What if XYZ doesn’t have a site and a fraudster has created the website to dupe users into giving their sensitive details? Such attacks are indeed a possibility. SSL\/TLS certs help immensely against such attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To obtain a high assurance SSL certificate\u2014recommended for businesses, organizations and e-commerce sites\u2014one must go through an intense vetting process conducted by a certificate authority<\/a>. The certificate is issued only and only if one passes through the process. This way, it\u2019s made sure that only the genuine entities get hold of SSL\/TLS certificates and no skimmer can fool users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SSL seems good, but do I need it?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a hundred reasons for installing an SSL certificate, but today, we’re going to focus on five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s go back a bit. In 2014, Google, with the ambition to encrypt all of the internets, announced that HTTPS would be a ranking signal. This was Google\u2019s one of the very first moves to achieving its campaign \u2018HTTPS everywhere.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a text input field (email id, passwords, credit card info, etc.) in your WordPress site, there is a risk of a man-in-the-middle attack. So if you don\u2019t want your users\u2019 sensible details to be compromised, you must install an SSL certificate<\/a> for encryption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a business or organization and want to show prove your identity to the users, there is no better way to do so than to flaunt your organization name in the address bar. This results in enhanced customer trust and improves brand recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might be possible that you and your WordPress site have nothing to do with Google rankings, or brand recognition or even user security. However, there\u2019s one reason that you should care about is browser warnings. Google Chrome, the most popular browser on the planet, now marks all HTTP websites as \u2018Not Secure.\u2019 Such a warning could turn out to be deadly from the site reputation and popularity point of views. Nobody would want to scare their visitors away by such warnings. We assume you believe the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Do you need an SSL certificate for your WordPress website? Here are the answers:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n