Adding an SSL Certificate to Your WordPress Site

Are you perplexed by the idea of adding an SSL certificate to your WordPress site? Don’t be! It’s burstingly easy, and there are many good reasons why you might want to do it. For one thing, an SSL certificate ensures that sensitive information entered on your site stays private and secure. In addition, it can improve your site’s ranking in Google search results. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, let’s take a closer look at what an SSL certificate actually is.

What Is an SSL Certificate?

An SSL certificate, or Secure Socket Layer certificate, is a technology used to keep data secure between a website and its users. When visiting sites equipped with SSL certificates, users’ browsers can establish secure connections with the site’s server to ensure that any data they enter is transmitted safely. Why is data security so important? For two reasons:

1. It keeps data confidential, protecting the privacy and security of website users
2. It prevents data tampering by ensuring any data exchanges between user and website are unchanged

Why Add an SSL Certificate to Your WordPress Site?

Now that you understand what an SSL certificate is, it’s time to get to the heart of the matter: why do you need one on your WordPress site? The answer is threefold:

1. It secures sensitive information. If your site handles private data, such as credit card or login information, you need to make sure that it’s transmitted securely. An SSL certificate provides the assurance of a secure connection.
2. It improves SEO rankings. Google has stated that it prefers HTTPS over HTTP, so sites with SSL certificates tend to rank higher in search results.
3. It gains user trust. Seeing the green padlock in a website’s address bar reassures users that it’s secure, which increases the likelihood that they’ll trust your site and your business overall.

How to Add an SSL Certificate to Your WordPress Site

Now that we’ve covered why you need an SSL certificate, let’s move on to the nuts and bolts of adding one to your site. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Step 1: Purchase an SSL certificate

The first step to adding an SSL certificate to your WordPress site is to buy one. There are many trusted providers, such as GoDaddy, SSL.com, and Digicert, that offer different types of SSL certificates at affordable rates.

Step 2: Install the SSL certificate

Once you’ve purchased your SSL certificate, you need to install it on your WordPress site. Depending on your hosting provider, the steps for installation can vary. Managed hosting providers like SiteGround or BlueHost typically offer a one-click installation feature, while other hosting providers may require you to follow specific instructions or contact their support team for help.

Step 3: Update your website to HTTPS

After your SSL certificate has been installed, you need to update your website to HTTPS. You can do this by logging into your WordPress dashboard and navigating to Settings -> General. Make sure to update both the WordPress Address and Site Address fields by changing the URL from HTTP to HTTPS. Once you’ve made the necessary updates, save your changes to exit the dashboard.

Step 4: Update all internal links to HTTPS

If you want to avoid mixed content warnings and potential SEO impacts, it’s essential to update all internal links within your site to HTTPS. This process can be done manually or automated with plugins like Better Search Replace or Velvet Blues Update URLs.

Step 5: Update your CDN

If you use a CDN, such as Cloudflare or Amazon CloudFront, to help speed up your website’s load times, you need to ensure that it’s also been updated to HTTPS. Contact your CDN provider and follow their instructions to update your CDN to HTTPS.

Step 6: Submit your site for re-indexing

Finally, after you’ve completed all of the above steps, you should submit your site to be re-indexed by search engines like Google and Bing. This process notifies search engines that your site now uses HTTPS and all internal links have been updated accordingly.

In conclusion, adding an SSL certificate to your WordPress site is an important step to take if you want to keep sensitive data secure, improve your SEO ranking, and create confidence and trust in your website among your users.