Google has a monopoly in the browser market and is about to make all website owners buy HTTPS or SSL certificates for their websites because Google thinks users should feel web is safe by default. HTTP websites will be marked as "not secure" inside Chrome browser by the end of 2018.
HTTPS or SSL certificate costs $60 bucks from GoDaddy and nearly almost all hosting providers sell them around $20-$50. This is extra expense for your site but it is well worth it for the future. Did you know you can get HTTPS for free?
Chrome will mark your site "Not secure". This is how HTTP sites will look like in Chrome by the end of 2018.
How to get HTTPS for free?
Here are 6 places where you can get it on the house (free). I've tested them.
- Let's Encrypt - Let’s Encrypt is free for 90 Days, it is automated.
- Cloudways (Recommended)- If you buy a cloud server, they use Let's Encrypt to give you Free HTTPS. Cloud server options include Digital Ocean, Vultr, Linode etc.
- Comodo SSL - This digital certificate is valid for 90 Days.
- Zero SSL - There is a certificate wizard, which is neat.
- Quality SSL Trial - They provide full SSL functionality, valid for 30 days only.
- CloudFlare - They have free HTTPS but its weird setup and I have always encountered issues with CloudFlare (In my personal opinion).
What are the benefits of going HTTPS?
- If you have visitors submit any kind of web form or messages, then that information is sent securely via the browser, it is safer to send it with HTTPS. In addition, your entire submission is encrypted.
- Search engines like Google will give you 0.1% of ranking boost with HTTPS, but I think this will diminish in the near future if nearly all sites are HTTPS.
- Moving forward HTTPS is the way to go. The switch from HTTP to secure HTTPS connections (with SSL) prevents downgrade attacks to your website.
If you need help with moving from HTTP to HTTPS, just message me.
Source: https://blog.chromium.org/2018/05/evolving-chromes-security-indicators.html