SSL: Why Is It Useful?

Your website is the face of your business on the internet. This means that it’s essential to keep everything secure. One way to make your website safe and secure for customers to transact is by using SSL certificates.

SSL certificates provide security between the user’s computer, your website, and any sensitive data transmitted. However, suppose your business doesn’t have an SSL certificate. In that case, it could be leaving itself open to hackers trying to steal personal information or other important data from its site.

These hackers will likely come in through the browser since most people don’t know how to install an SSL certificate on their computers, so they rely on whichever sites they visit daily for this protection. It’s also not uncommon for frustrated customers of non-secure websites to take their business elsewhere if there isn’t enough.

What is SSL?

SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is an encryption-based security protocol. It is designed to provide a secure channel between two devices or machines operating over the internet. One good example is the SSL used to secure communication between a web server and a web browser.

The padlock icon is displayed on top of the webpage or website once SSL has been installed. The referred page does not use the HTTPS protocol without the padlock icon, so data transmission is not secure.

By moving your cursor over the secure HTTPS section of the URL bar, you can view the security credentials of the website you are on.

What is an SSL certificate?

An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that binds a website’s identity to a cryptographic key pair that consists of a public key and a private key. Adding an SSL certificate to a company’s website will protect customer information and secure online transactions.

Since SSL protocol was introduced about 25 years ago, there have been several versions, all of which have run into security problems at some point. TLS, or Transport Layer Security, was later revamped and renamed and is still used today. Unfortunately, the initials SSL stuck, so the new version of the protocol is still referred to by its old name.

Why is SSL important?

As most of our daily transactions and communications happen online, there is very little reason not to use SSL. The information security principles that SSL supports include:

• Encryption: SSL protects data transmission from browser to server, application to a server, server to server, etc.
• Data integrity: SSL ensures that the data you request or submit actually matches the information you receive
• Authentication: Make sure you’re connecting to the correct server.

You can use SSL to secure:

• System logins and any sensitive information exchanged online
• Online credit card transaction
• Workflow and virtualization applications
• Webmails servers like Exchange, Outlook, and Office Communication Server
• Hosting control panel logins and activities like cPanel, Parallels, and others.
• Intranet-based traffic includes file sharing, internal networks, database connection, and extranets.
• File transfer over HTTPS and FTP services

How does SSL improve SEO ranking?

Using SSL certificates on a website would make browsing and visiting the site more comfortable. However, when it comes to search engine rankings, Google prefers websites with SSL certificates. As part of Google’s attempt to create a secure web environment, it filters search results based on the verification and authenticity of related websites while enforcing stricter guidelines on the general security of the web. By doing so, SSL-certified and trusted websites are given preference, thereby improving their SEO rankings.

Does SSL help SEO?

Perhaps you’re wondering what SSL has to do with SEO. It is common for SEO to boost a website’s performance by using suitable and relevant keywords. However, that is not enough to boost the website’s overall traffic.

Search engine like Google Chrome alerts users when they visit an HTTP website with an ‘i’ icon in place of the padlock.

Upon tapping, a warning indicates that the website isn’t secure and confidential information isn’t encrypted. Users are advised not to enter sensitive information on this website. With this warning, users know if their personal information is at a greater risk of being compromised. SSL and SEO are therefore related, and SSL does affect SEO rankings.

Global networks such as the World Wide Web are dynamic. New things are introduced every day to succeed what was new yesterday. Since the internet and its numerous features are changing rapidly, it can be difficult to identify something worth investing in. Nevertheless, the need for data authenticity and security over the internet does not change. Data protection and privacy have become the topmost priorities of millions of internet users and website owners.

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of finding search terms, also known as keywords that people enter into a search engine like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Keyword research aims to find out what your target audience searches for and how to rank for those keywords. You can’t optimize your website, target phrases for link building, or develop content for your audience if you don’t know what keywords to target.

Why is keyword research important for SEO?

Keyword research is essential as it impacts every SEO task that you perform, including on-page SEO, finding a content topic, content promotion, and email outreach.

It provides crucial insight into the queries that your target audience is actually searching on Google. The insight that you can get into these actual search terms can help inform content strategy and your larger marketing strategy. However, keywords themselves may not be as important to SEO as you may think.

Using keywords in blogs and outreach is a powerful way to drive traffic to your website.

Keyword research provides you with specific search data that can help you answer questions like:

How many people are searching for it?

What are people searching for?

In what format do they want that information?

You can use keyword research to edit your existing site architecture and refine your new site’s copy. If you are simply updating your content for SEO, keyword research will help you determine whether your site can rank for other terms relevant to your industry or location.

You can use keyword research to learn where you rank for keywords, which keywords are easy to rank for, and which keywords your competitors are ranking for.

How to identify keywords?

You probably have a few keywords in mind that you would like to rank for. It could be your products, services, or other topics you address on your website, and they are great seed keywords for your research, so get started!

A keyword research tool can be used to determine the average monthly search volume of those keywords. In addition, using a keyword research tool, you will be able to find other keywords, common questions, and topics for your content that you might not know about otherwise. You may notice that the search volume of those keywords varies greatly when discovering relevant keywords for your content. Even though you probably want to target terms that your audience searches for, you may find that keywords with a lower search volume are more advantageous since they’re less competitive. Learning more about the volume of searches for your target keywords can help you prioritize them and pick the ones that will give your website the best chance of ranking well.

What is SEO Competitors’ Analysis?

SEO competitor analysis helps business owners and company executives understand the competitive landscape for their industry. It involves researching the content and other elements, like the keyword a competitor used or the link.

In order to perform a competitor analysis efficiently and collect enough data without putting in a lot of effort, most marketers use an SEO competitor analysis tool. These tools can also be used to generate competitor analysis SEO reports. Among the tools used to analyze SEO competitors are Ahrefs and SEMush.

The SEO competitor analysis may include:  

A list of top competitors and how they stack up against your brand, as determined by Alexa ranking, Facebook likes Google+ followers, and Twitter following.

Detailed information about each competitor’s website, including social media channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube, where applicable. This data will help you identify which sites to focus on targeting with your marketing efforts.

The strategies used by your competitor to achieve their objective

SEO keyword competition analysis

Competitor’s backlink analysis

Why is SEO competitor’s analysis important?

Healthy competition is necessary. Competition drives innovation and stops complacency. However, it’s more fun when you’re the one at the top. Although your website might rank number one for a particular keyword right now, this will not be the case forever. People will always try to outwit you rather than the other way around. Other websites, mostly your competitors, will learn to optimize their content and gain an advantage over yours over time. Therefore, SEO competitive analysis should be a continuous endeavor for any business.

Business owners often ignore competitor analysis, assuming they have done everything possible to optimize their SEO efforts. The reality, however, is that they have not. So, no matter how well you accomplish your goals, you may wonder why analyzing your competition is essential. Here are some reasons:

You can always improve your results to stay ahead of the competition. SEO keyword competition analysis, for instance, can help you learn from your competitors’ tactics and use them in your SEO campaigns.

Identifies weaknesses in your strategy. There is no perfect SEO strategy. By observing what your competitors are doing, you realize any gaps in your strategy and correct them.

Identifies what you do well. The chances are that you are better at some things than your competitors. Identifying them will enable you to do more of them and also widen your reach.

Provides you with new ways to reach your audience. There may be tactics your competitors are using that are entirely new, giving you the chance to improve your results. By doing a competitive analysis, your business will grow. As a result, you’ll be able to identify and adopt new strategies that will help improve your online visibility and increase your bottom line.

What is a Website Audit?

A website audit is a process that involves analyzing your website and finding ways to improve it. This is different from a site redesign or making changes to the site’s design, as those are separate processes.

Website audits are conducted before launching a large-scale search engine optimization campaign (SEO) or redesigning your site. By performing a website audit, you can determine if your website is optimized to achieve your traffic objectives, and if not, what can be done to improve it.

Anyone who has access to the backend of the site can do a website audit, but it’s usually something that happens before you begin a larger project, like a redesign or change in site direction.

Why is a website audit necessary?

A website audit is done to assess the quality and performance of a website. This process can be highly beneficial for companies that want to improve their online presence. It allows them to gain valuable insight into what needs improvement and where they should focus their efforts.

It allows you to identify and eliminate any SEO pitfalls across all the content on your site. This includes:

Discovering under-performing pages

Technical tweaks to improve the overall user experience

Assets that should not be in Google’s index

Keyword stuffing

Exact match anchor text links

Additionally, you will be able to refocus on users first rather than search engines. You’ll also be able to safeguard yourself from being constantly chased by changes to search engine ranking algorithms, so you won’t be resorting to misguided practices just to appear on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Performing an audit will help you evaluate how well the site converts, as well. For example, perhaps there are some leads or sales opportunities you missed in the past? Is it possible that your strategies so far haven’t been as effective as you anticipated? By analyzing the site, you can answer these and many other questions, leading to a greater probability of conversion.

You can compare your website with those of your competitors by conducting a website audit. Analysis of how you rank against competitors can help uncover potential revenue sources. The goal of a competitive analysis is to take a step back and look at the overall market area, your position, your competitors, and the search landscape for crucial keywords.

Even if your site ranks at the top of the search results for all your most important keywords, another site always tries to surpass you and capitalize on your weaknesses.

When a website audit is completed, what can a business expect?

A company’s website plays a critical role in its success. Having access to information like which pages are receiving the most traffic and how many visitors are converting into leads or customers can help you determine where improvements need to be made on your site. Without this data, businesses may invest time and money into projects that do not actually benefit their bottom line.

Businesses receive a summary report that includes any discrepancies found after an audit. It also outlines how to fix them. By regularly auditing websites, businesses remain agile and aligned with Google’s best practices.

7 Reasons Why Your Website Needs Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of any effective marketing strategy. It’s the best way to gain exposure for your website online. To fully appreciate its importance, let’s look at a few of the reasons why you should optimize your website.

An optimized website earns more traffic

SEO aims to improve your website’s ranking in search results. Beyond that, achieving high rankings is about attracting more traffic – ultimately turning that traffic into customers and leads.

If potential customers can’t find your website, you’ll miss sales opportunities. Search engine optimization increases your organic traffic, which in turn has the effect of increasing the number of visitors to your site each day. An increase in traffic to your site directly correlates to an increase in sales – because the more relevant prospects you see, the more likely you will be to sell to them.

It can help you build your brand

There’s no denying it – SEO is essential to brand growth. Having a higher search engine ranking for various high-volume keywords will result in more organic (aka unpaid) traffic to your website.

With a well-optimized website, you’re more likely to gain more customers and make more sales. In addition, when people find your website through a search engine, they are more likely to share it on other social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

It helps your target audience find your site

Users are more likely to select one of the top five suggestions that a search engine indicates when searching for a service or product online. By ranking higher in search results, online visibility increases, making potential customers more likely to click over to your site and convert. Therefore, having a strong online presence will help you reach your marketing goals and enable your target audience to research and buy in a way that is convenient for them.

It boosts your credibility and authority

If your SEO score is higher, you will appear higher in search engines such as Google and Bing. Aside from being more visible on Google, gaining trust from potential customers is a secondhand benefit of ranking higher in Google. Since users tend to trust the recommendations generated by a search engine, ranking higher for the keywords they are searching for will reassure them that your product or service is trustworthy.

It can help you stay ahead of competitors

When you optimize your site, you’re not only trying to rank higher on search engine results pages. You’re also gaining a competitive advantage.

It improves user experience

Optimized websites communicate what products or services are available, how to obtain them, and any questions associated with them. Search engines like Google and Bing can easily extract the information they need to relay to users when a site is built to cater to their experience. When users have difficulty navigating your site, likely, search engines do too.

SEO doesn’t require you to pay for ad space

One of the best parts about search engine optimization is that you don’t have to pay for ad space. Traffic is generated organically. Thus, search engine traffic is free and not based on a per-click fee. Although it may take time, you should consider outsourcing the work to an SEO specialist who can help you rank higher and increase organic traffic.