What an SSL certificate does
An SSL (TLS) certificate lets your website use HTTPS. It encrypts information travelling between the visitor's browser and your server, such as passwords, contact form entries and payment details, and proves the site belongs to your domain.
Certificate types
| Type | Validates | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Domain Validation (DV) | Domain control | Blogs, brochure sites |
| Organisation Validation (OV) | Domain and company | Business websites |
| Extended Validation (EV) | Strict company checks | Finance, large e-commerce |
| Wildcard | One domain and all its subdomains | Sites using many subdomains |
HTTPS and search
Google has confirmed HTTPS as a lightweight ranking signal, and browsers label HTTP pages that collect data as "Not secure". Moving to HTTPS is a basic step for trust and for search. See what an SSL certificate is for a step-by-step migration checklist.