Google has been pushing for secure websites for quite some time now. As of July 2018, though, they’ve taken a much firmer stance on the issue. Now, Google Chrome will notify potential users of a website if the URL they are about to access is not secure. This comes as a pretty big move, as the sweeping enactment will affect millions of sites across the web. So what is there to be done?
Get an SSL already.
If your company has fallen behind in the world of the web, it’s time to catch up. If you operate a website, you must make it secure. How is this done, you ask? With a little thing called an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate of course. Essentially, what this does is establishes encrypted links between the web server hosting your site and the browser trying to access the site. This way, if anybody tries to wiggle their way into that connection, it’s a heck of a lot harder to do so.
Source: Google Security Blog
Whatcha gonna do when Google comes for you?
Google Chrome is adopting a seek and destroy methodology when it comes to cracking down on insecure websites. If your site is an HTTP and not an HTTPS (meaning backed by an SSL), Google is throwing penalizations your way left and right. Not only are they alerting users that your site is not secure, but your search engine rankings are likely taking a hit as well. After all, it doesn’t behoove Google to market insecure sites. It looks bad on them as well.
Don’t worry - it’s easy.
Obtaining and maintaining an SSL Certificate is relatively simple. If you have a marketing company (like, say, EightPM) working for you, they are usually able to host the SSL for you and provide you an operating, safe, secure website that users are going to be able to access. This means uninterrupted traffic, and thus uninterrupted profit.
It’s okay to be insecure. But your website? Not so much.
