Not so long ago, HTTPS was only considered to be a necessity for e-commerce sites where users entered their credit card details to pay for goods and services. However, as more and more websites were targeted by hackers (who insert malicious scripts and alter the content of their victims’ sites), it became obvious that HTTPS was essential for all reputable websites.
If you would like to be able to guarantee the integrity of your content to visitors and ensure they are never exposed to malicious code injected by third parties, you need to implement HTTPS by obtaining and installing a valid SSL certificate. With a valid certificate, your server will be able to initiate encrypted sessions with visitors to your website, protecting all data that flows between the server and your visitors’ computers or mobile devices.
The Primary Benefits of HTTPS WordPress Websites
If you have never considered using HTTPS before or you’re just not sure what benefits an HTTPS WordPress website will offer you and your visitors, the following list of features should help to clarify things for you:
Faster Loading Pages
This is not really an advertised feature of HTTPS and initially it was actually slower than plain HTTP but developments in the protocol over the last few years have led to significant performance improvements: HTTPS sites now often load faster than their HTTP counterparts. In a world where time is increasingly of the essence and people’s attention spans are shrinking by the minute, fast loading websites have a huge advantage over sites that take an age to render a simple page.
Guaranteed Integrity of Content
As mentioned above, an HTTPS secured website will enable you to guarantee the integrity of your content. Visitors to your site will see the HTTPS lock symbol in the address bar of their browser and will instantly know that everything they see on your site is exactly as it should be.
Because all the data sent from the server on which your site is hosted will be encrypted, it will not be possible for it to be intercepted and changed in any way. The content your visitors see on the pages of your website will be exactly what you expect them to see, with no added images, audio or text.
Enhanced Security
- Encrypts data transferred between users and the website, protecting sensitive information such as login credentials and payment details.
- Prevents data interception and man-in-the-middle attacks.
SEO Advantages
- Google gives ranking preference to HTTPS websites, improving search visibility.
- Helps avoid “Not Secure” warnings that could deter visitors.
Improved User Trust & Credibility
- The padlock icon in the browser signals safety, increasing user confidence.
- Essential for e-commerce and websites handling personal data.
How an HTTPS WordPress Specialist Can Help You to Make the Change
It is relatively easy to install an SSL certificate from a free certificate authority such as LetsEncrypt, especially if your host offers this as an option in your hosting control panel, but moving a WordPress website over to HTTPS is a little more complicated than just installing the certificate. You will also need to make changes to your WordPress configuration file and to any internal links contained in the pages of your website that currently use HTTP. If you have any HTTP links to external resources such as image files, which you load in your website pages, these will also need to be altered. If they’re not altered, your website will trigger mixed content warnings in certain browsers.
