SSL certificate
HTTPS and the padlock in the browser
In short
An SSL certificate lets your website use HTTPS, so the traffic between the visitor and your site is encrypted on the way.
You can see it in the address: https:// instead of http://. The certificate shows that the server belongs to your domain, and it is used to encrypt what gets sent, such as contact forms and logins. Technically it is called TLS today, but most people still say SSL. A certificate does not have to cost anything. Let's Encrypt hands out free certificates, and many web hosts set them up automatically.
Why it matters to you
Since Chrome 68 in 2018, Chrome has marked sites without HTTPS as "Not secure". That is not what you want a new customer to see just before filling in your contact form.
The padlock, on the other hand, is not a seal of quality. Chrome on desktop replaced it with a neutral icon in version 117 in 2023, because Google's own research showed that few people understood what the padlock actually meant. Scam sites can have HTTPS too. The padlock only said that the connection was encrypted.
How to check your own
Type your address with http:// in front, without the s. If you land on the https version automatically, all is well. If you stay on http, or get a warning, contact whoever runs your hosting. Ask at the same time whether the certificate renews automatically, so it does not expire on a Friday evening.
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