The latest version of Google Chrome, Chrome version 68 have started marking any website that does not have SSL certificate as NOT SECURE. Google is trying to make the internet safer for everyone so it is trying to for website owners to get their websites encrypted. This warning is for all blog owners and website owners. Let me break it down, any site that does not have the GREEN PADLOCK or the HTTPS sign will be termed NOT secure. Chrome currently marks HTTPS-encrypted sites with a green lock icon and “Secure” sign.

HTTPS means Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure and has been around for a while, but it’s generally not well-understood. Many people know that sites using HTTPS instead of HTTP will display a lock on the URL to tell users that the site is safe to use, nowadays all E-commerce websites such as JUMIA, Amazon, Ebay, etc and also websites will sensitive informations use HTTPS to make it secure for the users. A lot of you may be wondering does it matter for every day bloggers and sites? Increasingly, the answer is YES, even for small sites. Google search began down-ranking unencrypted sites in 2015. An insider at Google Mr Schechter said “Based on the awesome rate that sites have been migrating to HTTPS and the strong trajectory through this year,” Schechter said, “we think that in July the balance will be tipped enough so that we can mark all HTTP sites.”

Chrome is the first browser to take this step with HTTPS, but it’s expected that Explorer and Mozilla Firefox will both follow suit. This latest move by Google will most certainly warn website owners all over the world to switch over to HTTPS. It is important because HTTP doesn’t protect communications with encryption that blocks eavesdropping and tampering. Now if Google starts warning people a website is not secure it will discourage people from visiting the site.

What are the benefits of encrypting your website with HTTPS SSL certification?

1. HTTPS protects against man-in-the-middle attacks, eavesdropping, and tampering with website data.
2. Protects web user information from hackers and any form of attack.
3. It gives you better ranking on Google search engine which is no doubt the best search engine in the world.
4. It makes surfing the web a lot safer for all your users.
5. Someone can easily hack your domain if it doesn’t use HTTPS and use it for thousands of illegal and immoral purposes. Sounds scary
6. It is completely FREE. Any web host that charges money to encrypt your site is just trying to extort you. Migration to HTTPS is absolutely FREE.