Website security plays a big part in your SEO.
If Google suddenly started sending people to lots of unsecured sites, then it wouldn’t be long until everyone started using a different search engine, so your site will be punished if it doesn’t protect its users.
Whether you do your SEO yourself or through an agency, you’ve got to take responsibility for your website security. Otherwise, all your hard work can quickly be undone.
Here are some ways your website security ties in with SEO.
SSL Certificate
Websites with an SSL certificate offer enhanced security to users, and it’s a known ranking factor for Google. Simply put, if you have two websites that are exactly the same, and one is http and the other is https, it’s much more likely that the https site is going to rank higher.
An SSL certificate is fairly standard these days, but there are still websites that don’t have one, and this will severely impact on those site’s ability to rank.
Google can’t afford to send people to websites that aren’t secure, and so, SSL certificates are one of the first things they look for.
Blacklisting
Not every hack or security breach is going to get your website blacklisted, but if your site is compromised enough times, then it might end up on Google’s dreaded blacklist.
Being blacklisted is a very quick way to completely destroy your rankings, and it can have long-lasting effects, which is one of the reasons you should always conduct white label SEO. Once you prove your website is no longer compromised, then you can get it taken off the blacklist, but it’s still going to take a lot of time to rebuild what you had.
Unfortunately, security breaches can happen to anyone, and if you’re not taking your site’s security seriously, then blacklisting can happen.
Bounce Rate
Lots of internet users are conscious of security, and if they don’t see the little lock sign next to your URL, then they are going to be wary about interacting with your website. If they get a warning from their browser that your site might not be secure, then they can’t click away fast enough.
This is going to bring your bounce rates up hugely and means you’re not getting people to engage with your business. Part of SEO is getting clicks to your site, but the other part is being able to convert those clicks, and you can’t do this effectively with security issues.
Throw in the fact that Google probably factors in your bounce rate and dwell time, and you’ve got a really bad effect on your SEO.
Reputational Damage
If you’ve got a hugely popular website that suffers a bad security breach, then it can be terrible for your reputation.
You can show up number one all you want in the rankings, but if your brand name is severely damaged, then people won’t click on your link. This means a big drop in organic traffic, and there’s not much you can do about it other than rebuild your reputation.
This is why it’s important to invest in your security before irreparable damage is done.
