How SSL Certificates and Dedicated IP Addresses Affect SEO

Two elements that can affect the SEO of online businesses are SSL Certificates and Dedicated IP addresses. Here we take a look at how these interwoven elements could help your business appear higher on Search Engine Ranking Pages. SSL Certificates An SSL Certificate is required by businesses for ecommerce and for collecting customer’s personal information online. The SSL Certificate works as a security token and this is used to protect customer information that is private and moved across the web. Essentially, an SSL Certificate provides security for customers and that builds trust. Websites that have SSL certification are identified with a green lock or green-coloured bar in the address bar of the user’s web browser. Website visitors and consumers are today understanding that a green lock or green bar indicates that the business ‘s website they are using is safe, their credit or debit card details will be safe, sensitive information will be encrypted and the website can be trusted as genuine. Since 2014, Google has used SSL Certificates and HTPPS in its ranking algorithm. Putting these elements into place will help protect emails and domain names from phishing scams and they ensure that it is hard, if not impossible, to clone their website. In order for a website to have an SSL Certificate, it needs to have a dedicated IP address or static IP address, which in turn leads to other improvements in SEO. Dedicated IP Addresses Business websites use a hosting company to put them online and often no attention is given to the type of IP address that will be used. The IP address could be either a dedicated IP address or a shared IP address. Shared IP addresses can be used to host multiple websites, all of which share the same IP address. The hosting server determines which website to display, based upon the URL entered. When a dedicated IP address has been issued, the website has its own exclusive IP address and the website can be located using both its URL and IP address. However, it is not the dedicated IP address itself that improves search engine rankings. It is the fact that having a dedicated IP addresses means that the website’s loading speed is improved, as the IP address isn’t being used to host numerous websites, potentially being viewed by thousands of visitors. A website’s loading speed is a factor that is assessed by the search engine algorithms of Google and Bing. A dedicated IP address will also reduce the website’s downtime and number of server crashes. It is clear that SSL Certificates and dedicated IP addresses play a part in SEO, while offering enhanced performance and security for website visitors and consumers.

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