Recent “news” from Google is causing ripples around the Digital Marketing community, in that they (A) would like all web connections to be encrypted on the Internet, and (B) that encrypted websites (i.e. that are accessed via “HTTPS” vs. “HTTP”) will in time be a more attractive signal for search results rankings.
Google has announced that going with HTTPS — adding an SSL 2048-bit key certificate on your site — will give you a minor ranking boost. Google says this gives websites a small ranking benefit, only counting as a “very lightweight signal” within the overall ranking algorithm. In fact, Google said this carries “less weight than other signals such as high-quality content.” High-quality content, plus audience-directed amplification, remains King of the search results factors.
Here’s the rampant question: “Does my small business website need encryption, or HTTPS/SSL, right now?”.
The short, and well-known answer is “Yes, for webpages and applications that share sensitive or private information”. This has been the answer for a long time, particularly for eCommerce sites or others that request customer identification. Not only for small businesses, either – it’s a routine matter-of-fact for large businesses with significant technology investments.
Encryption is simply automatically scrambling or masking the information sent over the Internet, between your website and your customer’s computers and mobile phones. This protects the information from being intercepted along the way, at any point in the communications process – across phone lines, in data centers, on servers and telecommunications equipment, in the air, etc. If your business or customer data is intercepted, it can be used for all kinds of bad purposes – from theft and business interference, to personal or brand reputation destruction.
For the rest of your website, the short answer is “yes, you should employ encryption – but only if (1) adequate planning, and (2) dedicated technical support” is within your ability to reasonably execute and fund. This means you’ve got the right people helping you, and you’ve got a good plan to make the transition and mitigate any risks.
In other words, it’s really a routine, business operations investment question – something strategic to consider and methodically address over time, for sure within the next year or so (as your online presence and website goes through its annual update/upgrade process).
If you don’t have this, and won’t anytime soon – the lack of encryption for “informational content” will very likely not significantly influence or change your website’s performance and page rankings anytime soon (without, obviously, having the insider-word on what Google or Bing are really planning!). If your public, non-sensitive, unencrypted information hasn’t already been used for evil – it probably doesn’t deserve extra protection, from a cost-benefit perspective.
The “planning” part of this thought process is extremely important – because there are many ways to implement encryption, many things that can be very complex to implement, and also perhaps very quick, easy ways to do it…given the optimal circumstances, and perhaps implemented to various degrees of protection.
Website security and encryption are becoming increasingly common topics of discussion between business owners and their marketing & technology support teams (or services) – as well as other, related topics including:
- overall security – before and after an issue;
- mobilization/apps;
- website performance and analytics;
- media, content or data conversions;
- website redesigns, new features or interfaces;
- staying current with software/widget/plug-in updates;
- media streaming and storage;
- backups and high availability; and of course,
- SEO/SMO (the hidden, “technical” elements).
Note these topics are “business topics” – that business owners SHOULD discuss and manage – while the underlying “technologies” that are required to meet these challenges are really the domain and language of the technology support staff.
As your website presence grows and changes, and your online marketing needs evolve, be sure to find and stay connected with technology support resources, who can discuss these business topics with you BEFORE they happen, and recommend solutions that meet your resource and technology knowledge profile (i.e. your ability to afford, understand and stay informed about).
Contact KME to discuss your Internet Technology challenges or requirements, in business terms – we can probably move very quickly and cost-effectively to help you. That’s what a “Marketing Technology” service can do – uniquely available through KME Internet Marketing Technologies.