How Does Website Security Affect Your SEO?

Website security is a major ranking factor for Google, Bing, and other search engines. As we are moving towards digitization, people are becoming more knowledgeable and smarter in terms of how they are surfing online. And amid all the transformations, user security while they are online is a foundation of good SEO and no business owner can ignore this important factor. In this article, we will have a look at how website security affects the entire SEO strategy. Along with this, we will also check out some important things that you need to keep in mind. 

HTTP is a major ranking signal

Any good SEO Agency Sydney knows the fact that HTTPS plays a major role in achieving higher search rankings in Google and other search engines. Here, your goal should not be pleasing these search engines, but to make sure your visitors feel safe. 

When the visitors get to know that your website runs on HTTPS and all the data transactions are safer, you will automatically attract more visitors. A genuine HTTPS security will ensure that you are a legitimate platform and gain better trust among the visitors. It also reflects the business owner’s sincerity towards their visitors. 

If you are running your website, it’s better to buy a good SSL certificate that will not only protect your user’s data but also help you take an edge. Once you migrate your site from HTTP to HTTPS, you will definitely notice a slight difference in site rankings. 

You will easily find affordable and good SSL certificates that will help you keep your site and users protected. One thing to keep in mind is that never use free SSL certificates as the companies might include some additional code to their certificates. There is nothing wrong with spending a little money on your website SEO and getting long term benefits. 

Insecure website leads to higher hacking chances

Needless to say, no matter how hard you work to improve the SEO services if the website is insecure, it’s easier to hack and bring down by hackers. If a site is running on HTTP and has nothing related to user security, the site can get drastically impacted by negative SEO.

Through negative SEO, the site’s competitors or hackers can build spammy backlinks and target the domain. If the link audit has not been done in months, the search engines will flag the domain and all the hard work will be shattered in a matter of seconds.  

Many website users are not aware of the website security importance and its consequences over the SEO efforts made by them. But as the search algorithms are constantly changing and cyber-attacks are overgrowing, there should be no loophole in the security. If you are not able to figure out how to get started with website security, you need to hire a professional SEO company. They will not only help you secure the site but also help you in ranking improvements. Sometimes, if a site has an extremely high bounce rate and is running on HTTP, search engines blacklist that domain from showing in the search results. 

Your visitors deserve a better browsing experience

Apart from all the SEO parameters, the overall experience of your visitors matters the most. If your customers and visitors are not feeling safe, the SEO will degrade automatically. The site visitors need to know that you are a trustworthy brand. 

If you are aiming for better branding on the Internet, security is the number one thing to ensure. Once you focus on securing the overall user experience, the search engine will get signals from improving on-page time and traffic of your site. 

On the counterparts, if the site is running on HTTP protocol, there are high chances that the site will need to face a high bounce rate and lower customer retention rate. 

Website Security’s importance goes high for e-commerce

If someone is running an eCommerce store, then the business owner can’t risk the site’s reputation. As payments are involved in the site, no one will trust and pay on that site. If the site is protected by HTTPS and has integrated the right payment gateway, it’s hard to gain the trust of the buyers. 

So, to ensure your e-commerce business is thriving online and doing good sales, you need to ensure the site is running on a secure platform. Once the users will feel secure, the SEO tactics will work in a much better way. No matter if you are running a personal branding site, an e-commerce business, or a company site, good security leads to good SEO and vice versa.  

If you are planning to launch a new online business, first focus on website security and then plan other SEO activities. This thing will not only help you outperform your competitors but also help in better search result rankings.