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It’s been a hot minute since I blogged about blogging and I’m not really sure why. HA! I love blogging could honestly talk about it all day long if anyone would listen. I am a WordPress junkie and actually looks a few classes on it as well as a coding class and a few other things. What can I say, I love learning! Especially when it’s something I am passionate about.
I recently had a discussion with a fellow blogger about SSL certificates because my site got hacked last week and she thought having the certificate would cover you against attacks. Well guess what friends, it won’t and I’m here today to tell you why, things you can do to prevent attacks and what, exactly, your SSL certificate does for you/your website.
First things first, what in the world is an SSL Certificate?? Most people didn’t actually know anything about SSL certificates or had even heard of them until last fall when Google announced that they were going to start flagging sites that didn’t have them and marking them as “unsafe”. You can physically see when a site is marked unsafe because the little green lock shown in the photo of a browser below will be red and/or not locked. The websites address will also be HTTPS and not just HTTP.
So what is an SSL certificate and why do I need it??
An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a digital certificate that that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts information sent to the website’s server. So if your website collects any data at all, and by collecting data I’m talking about having a search bar that people can type into, a place to enter an email address for a subscription/newsletter or even just leaving a comment, you need an SSL certificate.
How do I get an SSL certificate??
You can purchase an SSL certificate through your blog’s host (just call them up or look on their website) but purchasing it doesn’t protect you, actually have to enable it for it to work.
How do I enable my website’s SSL certificate??
The easiest way to enable your site’s SSL certificate (if you are on WordPress) is by downloading and activating the plugin, Really Simple SSL. When you activate the plugin it will automatically redirect all traffic to the HTTPS version of your site and not the old non-secure site. It will also give you instructions on how to update your Google Search Console and Google Analytics to the HTTPS version of your site.
I have an SSL certificate, now what??
Now that you have a secure website there’s really not much else to do except sit back and enjoy the benefits of knowing that your site is secure and people can enter their info without fear!
Will having an SSL certificate keep my site safe from hackers??
Now for the question that prompted this entire post, will an SSL certificate keep my site safe from hackers? The short answer is no. An SSL certificate keeps the info on your site protected but if someone wants to hack your site they will attack the web server via phishing or using malware (I was hacked via malware being injected to my site even though I had my SSL certificate) however if you are attacked you can be rest assured that any info anyone has entered on your site should be protected via the SSL certificate you have if you set it up correctly.
If you have made it this far I commend you! If you learned something today then YAY for you! If this post completely bored you then I’m so sorry!
I will definitely be doing more posts like this in the future because like I said earlier, I love blogging about blogging!! So if you have any blogging or WordPress questions for me please let me know in the comments!! Or if you have a question about your website in particular or a WordPress issue that is bothering you email me, I would love to help you out!!
Do you have an SSL certificate set up for your website/blog??
I never knew half of this. All I really knew was that Google was requiring it and my site wasn’t going to work after a certain date if I didn’t upgrade it.
I remember having to have to add an SSL certificate way back and my tech guy did it all for me. I also have a firewall, etc. with a security company that helps protect my site from hackers. I never even thought much about SSL and I’m glad you explained it all.
This is a great reminder about being safe and how to add the SSL certificate if you don’t have it. Nope it doesn’t keep you safe. Good reminder.
Interesting. I think I do have one set up because I saw an alert saying that one would be added? I’m still through blogspot, so I think it’s automatic. I should look into that!
I just got mine in place. Thankful my husband could set all that up. Next up the GDPR
Google did this for me since I am a Blogger blogger. I appreciate all the information, though. I think it is important to know the “whys.”
This is a great primer on the subject and I need to be fluent in this issue. I will look into whether I am safely covered or not. I just renewed a certificate so I think I am ok.
I have an SSL certificate, but really had no idea what it was actually for. I just thought it was telling everyone that I’m cool. Haha. Kidding. Thanks for explaining what it actually means though!
I really enjoyed reading this post. I had no idea about a SSL certificate for a website. This is great information to keep in mind.
I just recently updated all mine with SSL, I hope I did cit correctly. I am not really good WITH CODING BUT BLOGGER made it easy for us.
I had some trouble with my WordPress site and moved Glamamom to Say Media’s Tempest platform. They handle all of this for me which is a huge relief as things are constantly changing. Thanks for explaining this more clearly!
This is a really good post, I love how you have made it so simple to understand as I am sure a few people just don’t realise what an SSL certificate really is.
I learned this one earlier this year and have my sites changed to HTTPS. I think it makes our readers feel safe as well when visiting our site and that’s definitely something that makes it worth it as well.
This is such great information. I know that I have SSL Certificates for all of my sites. Thanks for this, now I know more about it!
So many changes and updates but thankful for those in our community willing to break it down for us. I need to do it sooner rather than later.
This might be worth looking into. I do not need anyone hacking my site right now.
I have actually never thought of and SSL certificate. I need to look into this for sure!
Great reminder for having an SSL certificate installed for a website’s safety. I had mine for a while, but I probably need to talk to my tech person to see if it’s still good as it is.