SSL is a standard protocol that encrypts data between servers and web browsers hence ensuring that it is secure and private. This turns a website’s address from HTTP to HTTPS.
If the site is also secure with a valid SSL certificate, clicking on the padlock icon will illustrate this.
Back in 2014, Google announced HTTPS as a ranking signal, as security is one of Googles’ top priority. Having SSL properly implemented within a website is hence vital, in ensuring a higher ranking or else that there is no drop in ranking for existing websites.
As an example, if visitors access a site where SSL is not enabled, they will encounter a message that the site is not secure.
This will in most cases frustrate the visitor’s experience and they are highly likely to just leave the site as they wouldn’t trust the site. These high bounce rates on your website will negatively impact your websites’ rankings.
On the contrary, if the website was fully secure, and accessible at first, then this generates an element of trust to the site visitors, and they are likely to stick on the site.
We hence recommend having your web host properly integrate SSL into your website.