November 10, 2020
Did you know that 82% of visitors will leave your website if it is not secure? Website security is not a choice anymore. It has become a necessity for getting good rankings on Google.
Google considers website security as a top-ranking factor today. Moreover, website security also offers a better experience for your users. By taking the right measures to secure your website, you can prevent cyber attacks and safeguard your precious data. All of these factors contribute to your website rankings.
Let’s look at how website security can impact your online rankings and what measures you can take to make your website secure.
How Website Security Affects Your Website Rankings
1. Lack of HTTPS will Impact Google Ranking
When you get a SSL certificate for your website, it turns from an HTTP site to an HTTPS site. An HTTPS in your website’s URL indicates that your website is secure. It indicates that the data is encrypted thus increasing the security of data transfers.
Google has been prioritizing SSL certifications as a ranking factor since 2014. Hence, Google will always rank HTTPs sites above HTTP websites.
2. Your Website may get Blacklisted
If your website gets attacked by malware or unwanted software, your visitor data may get compromised. This might even lead to huge financial losses for Google’s users. That is why Google resorts to manually blacklisting such compromised websites.
If your website gets penalized by Google, your website will get terminated and removed from rankings. Even if your website doesn’t get flagged, such cyber attacks can have a huge negative impact on your search engine rankings.
Hence, if you want to stay in the search engine game for long, you have to take website security seriously.
3. Your Website will Lack User Experience
When visitors land on an HTTP website, they get a warning which says that the website might not be secure.
This is going to turn away the majority of visitors from your site. When you enable a SSL certificate, you build trust with people by ensuring that the information they share with you remains safe.
4. Security Breaches May Lead to Compromised Customer Data
Lack of website security measures can lead to massive monetary losses for you and your customers. Hackers are always on the lookout for websites with compromised security. Once they find a way into your website, all your customers’ information is compromised.
If your website deals with sensitive customer information such as credit card numbers, or other payment details, then you are looking at losses worth millions of dollars.
5. Ignoring Website Security may Lead to SEO Spam
SEO spam is when hackers gain entry into your website and insert spammy links or keywords into your website. This has a significant negative impact on your website’s SEO. The use of such spammy SEO tactics can even leave your website penalized by Google.
How can you fix your Website’s Security for Better Rankings?
1. Get a SSL Certificate
A SSL certificate is a must-have if you want to get good rankings on Google. You can get an SSL certificate from your hosting provider. Most hosting providers today offer SSL certificates either free or at a very low cost. You should get one immediately if you haven’t already.
Here are a few benefits of getting a SSL certificate for your website:
- Increase the number of visitors to your website by ranking high, increasing domain authority, and generating more backlinks.
- Avoid getting flagged by Google with a “Not Secure” message to your website visitors
- Improve user experience and user engagement.
- Building trust with your website visitors can help you get increased visibility and conversions.
- Your website’s security will ensure that your brand has a good reputation in the industry.
2. Install Security Plugins
If your website is hosted on WordPress, you must consider installing security plugins. These plugins will block multiple login attempts, brute force attacks, and malware attacks. Many of these security plugins come free of cost, so you don’t have to worry about spending a lot.
3. Use Strong Passwords
Ensure that everyone who has access to your website uses strong passwords that are a mix of characters, numbers, and letters. Strong passwords will add an extra layer of security to your website.
To Conclude
Google clearly prioritizes website security and uses it as one of the top factors to filter out websites while determining rankings. Hence every business must take website security measures if they want to stay ahead of competitors on Google rankings.
By getting a SSL certificate, installing security plugins, and taking other security measures, you will definitely see an increase in your Google rankings. Moreover, you will build a long-lasting, trustworthy relationship with your customers.
So, start right away. Follow these steps to secure your website and boost your search engine rankings.
Tim Ferguson is a writer and editor of Marketing Digest. He helps SEO agencies with link building, content marketing, online reputation management, and blogger outreach. When he is not writing and editing for Marketing Digest, he spends time on learning more about content marketing and getting better at it.
