SSL cert a sign of trust?

Redfly · 11-17-2006, 08:04 AM

Hi there,
I was reading an article yesterday regarding trustrank and all that goes with it. I can't remember where the article is now, but it mentioned that having an SSL cert would add to "Trust Score".

Is there any evidence for or against this?
We all know that every little helps in this industry, and although currently I do not require an SSL cert, if it gives me or my clients any extra credibility in the SEs eyes, I may give it a try.

Any advice or links to resources would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Dave

JamieJelly · 11-17-2006, 09:24 AM

If it had any impact on trustrank, I imagine it would be minimal, however the impact getting an SSL cert may have on your conversion rates would be the deciding factor (for me at least!) on whether to get one.

People like to see words like secure, confidential, safe, encrypted on sites where they are handing over money and/or personal information.

overdriveelectronics · 11-17-2006, 11:47 AM

Yeah, I guess it all depends on what you need the SSL for. If you are not taking money or people's personal information, then you probably dont need one. Not every site out there that is trusted has an ssl cert. If so the certificate companies would be doing very well!

Redfly · 11-17-2006, 12:22 PM

Well, for now, I am looking at it from an SEO perspective. The sites in question are non commerce and are selling services. ie: selling the contact page.

It was an interesting point in the article, and it would make a small bit of sense too. Just like the theory that a domain registered for 10 years has more trust than one registered for 1.

Thanks for the input though guys.

TheIntroducer · 11-17-2006, 01:05 PM

The question about SSL improving trust might be the type of question to ask Matt Cutts on his blog. Its the type of question he answers within a few days.

Talking about SSL certs my host sells them. I said to them one day your charge of £X seems pretty high, I could buy one elsewhere for £Y. The cheeky monkeys said to me, yes but we will still charge you £X to install a third party's.

Maybe one day I will go through the agony and hard work of changing host

Redfly · 11-17-2006, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheIntroducer

The question about SSL improving trust might be the type of question to ask Matt Cutts on his blog. Its the type of question he answers within a few days.

Talking about SSL certs my host sells them. I said to them one day your charge of £X seems pretty high, I could buy one elsewhere for £Y. The cheeky monkeys said to me, yes but we will still charge you £X to install a third party's.

Maybe one day I will go through the agony and hard work of changing host

Thats a good idea. I contacted Matt about something about two months ago and he referred my case to someone deep inside Google who helped me out and gave me the correct advice. It was a pretty complex issue regarding mixing multiple redirects.

About your cert, if you have a dedicated server, you can install it yourself.

vangogh · 11-17-2006, 02:31 PM

I can't imagine an ssl certificate having any impact on how a search engine sees your site. In all honesty it would be ridiculous to give a boost in ranking because you have a certificate.

Most sites do not need an ssl for anything and you should really only be using them on the pages that are sending sensitve data back and forth.

If Google decided to give a site a SERP boost for having a certificate then all sites that have been SEOd in any way will soon have one, which kind of reduces the trust they'd carry with them.

The certificate can build trust with the people who visit your site and if they trust you more they are more likely to habd over their credit card number. But more trust from the search engines I don't see it and I think something like that would destroy the value of the certificate.

Redfly · 11-17-2006, 02:52 PM

I agree. I just wanted to gauge what others felt about this guys point in his article. My main sites have no need for an SSL cert. It would be a waste of money I guess. And you are right, if Google did put weight on a cert, everyone would be using them and it would defeat the purpose. They are smarter than that.

Thanks for the input guys.

mazter · 11-17-2006, 03:07 PM

I'm not sure if we are referring to same article but the one that I was reading was suggesting to have a long term SSL certificate, if you have a commercial website. This way google thinks you are legitimate company or whatsoever that it can trust and send you visitors to make shopping.

Redfly · 11-17-2006, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazter

I'm not sure if we are referring to same article but the one that I was reading was suggesting to have a long term SSL certificate, if you have a commercial website. This way google thinks you are legitimate company or whatsoever that it can trust and send you visitors to make shopping.

Well, yes, it was something along those lines anyway. The article was by someone called googleseoguy or something. Can't find it now though.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the interesting feedback guys.