Worry Free SSL

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is an Internet protocol that establishes a secure connection between a web server and browser. It’s most commonly used to pass sensitive information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and login credentials between the web browser and web server. Without SSL encryption everything would get transferred as plain text anyone can read.

Why the Internet Marketing World Should Care About SSL

Google is becoming very privacy continence, and standard HTTP connections are leaky buckets that can reveal a lot about a user’s online activity.  In a push to improve security and privacy Google began encouraging webmasters to begin serving all their content over an SSL connection.  The practical marketing benefits are twofold.

Data Collection Standardization

Digital Internet Marketers need clean data to track referral sources. Logs files get really messy when the web server is constantly redirecting HTTP to HTTPS. Standardizing on SSL solves a lot of analytics and tracking issues.

Improved Search Engine Rankings

Google announced on it’s webmaster blog that it is starting to give  preference to websites served over SSL

“We’re starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal. For now it’s only a very lightweight signal — affecting fewer than 1% of global queries, and carrying less weight than other signals such as high-quality content — while we give webmasters time to switch to HTTPS.”   ~Google Webmaster Central Blog

Google has clearly stated their long term intention, so early adopters will eventually have a competitive advantage because they will have been working longer to establish their HTTPS backlinks