Hosting
Hosting is where your site lives. What separates the types, and why it has to be in your name.
Read more →What is an SSL certificate?
The padlock in the address bar. What it proves, what it does not, and why you need not pay for one.
What it is
An SSL certificate encrypts the traffic between the visitor and your site. That is what the padlock in the address bar means and why the address starts with https rather than http.
Without one, somebody on the same network — public wifi, say — can read what goes back and forth, including whatever somebody types into your contact form.
Why it might matter to you
- Browsers mark sites without one as "not secure". Your visitor sees that before reading a single word.
- It is effectively compulsory: without https you rank lower in Google and visitors leave at the warning.
- You need not pay for it. Let’s Encrypt issues free certificates that renew themselves, and nearly every host supports it.
- It proves the connection is encrypted, not that the company behind it is trustworthy. A phishing site has a padlock too.
How we handle it
On every site we deliver, https is on before anything goes live, and http is redirected to https automatically. That second part is regularly forgotten, with the result that the same page exists at two addresses and Google does not know which is real.
Related terms
Canonical URL
A canonical points out which address is the real one when the same page is reachable through several.
Read more →GDPR
When you need a cookie banner, when you do not, and what belongs in a privacy statement that actually means something.
Read more →Not sure which way to go?
Send a short brief with what you have now and what needs to be better. You get an honest answer, including if that answer is that you do not need us for it.