Look at the address bar in your internet browser. See the little lock icon? That means this website is secure with an SSL certificate.
Go to your website. Do you see a little lock icon? If not, your website does not have a verified SSL certificate.
For most people everything computers is an enigma. The internet is no exception. To understand an SSL certificate and what is it, you need to know just a small bit about the internet.
The internet is a very large group of computers connected together and talking to one another. You pay a internet service provider to maintain your connection to this large group of computers, just like a telephone. Each computer stores a little bit of information available to the rest of the internet. Those with more are generally servers, where websites and those fun games are stored.
But just like any other facet in our lives, there is an element of danger to the internet. Some servers are not who they say they are, and are managed by people who’d rather you didn’t know who they were.
This means the internet has a trust issue.
A SSL certificate is a small file a server uses to show your viewers computer the server is who the server says it is. Like a drivers license. It contains a small amount of data about the server and its website, and the certificate tells the computer what 3rd party verified the information.
Without an SSL certificate, your website is just another website passing by on the internet. Can people stop and look at your website? Sure. But someone else can easily falsify your site and trick your potential viewers.
An SSL certificate shows the user they can trust your site, and use it with confidence!