If you run an online business, perhaps you have heard that Google recently implemented a rule that any website that does not use SSL will have a huge “NOT SECURE” label plastered on it in the browser URL bar.
Yup, it’s for reals.
Any business, or website for that matter, that is operating today should invest in an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate should make your site show up as “secure” with a green padlock displayed in the URL bar.
If you use WordPress, once you have an SSL certificate, use a free plugin to make sure that your website forces all traffic to your website to be secure.
What is the Really Simple SSL Plugin?
Really Simple SSL (“RSSSL”) is a free WordPress plugin that you can easily install on your site.
It’s a great plugin that has about 1.5 million installs as of today.
I’m actually surprised it doesn’t have more installs, considering the new treatment of non-SSL sites by Google.
Anyway, after you activate the plugin WordPress will force everything to go to the secure HTTPS from the unsecure HTTP so that the green “Secure” padlock will show up.
Note: This plugin may not fix all situations where you have insecure content… An example of this can be insecure content that you have hard-coded yourself, such as from within a widget or if you’ve hard-coded a link to an image. You may be alerted that
RSSSL works with your SSL certificate and the plugin also changes any coding that you have on your site from http to https.
If you’re wondering if your site is secure, you can visit https://www.WhyNoPadlock.com and run a simple test.