When most people refer to a good website design, they think about the face value of the website. For them, website design is more about how the website looks than how it functions. While the appearance of the website matters big time, it is not the all and everything of web design.
There are other concepts that have to be addressed in order to make a website more user and search engine friendly. If a website is user friendly, it will automatically be search engine friendly too. Now, one of the many things that make a website user and search engine friendly is Encryption.
Encryption refers to the process of converting normal data into a cipher format. When some data has been encrypted, it has been converted into a format that cannot be understood by any unauthorized parties. Encryption is a crucial concept in the internet world because data is traveling in the online world at any given moment.
The data traveling on internet can be of sensitive nature too. Unauthorized parties and hackers are often on the hunt to steal sensitive information from individuals at home and large corporations to gain evil benefits. Through encryption, their access to the data is made impossible.
Encryption in Website Design
A professional website design firm will always tell you about the importance of encryption for your website. There are certain requirements that a website has to fulfill in order to obtain the certificate that secures the website. The most commonly used security protocol is SSL (secure sockets layer).
In order for your website to obtain SSL it needs to be operating with a dedicated IP address. Certain details about the website have to be provided in order to receive your security certificate and activate it. This is to ensure that only legit websites are obtaining the security certificate.
When a website is encrypting the information provided by the visitor, its web address will start with HTTPS instead of the traditional HTTP. Some browsers will also show a padlock sign as an indication that the website is protected by SSL. Any information provided by visitors on such a website is encrypted i.e. converted into a format that no intercepting party would understand.
The security layer available on the website enveloped the information of the visitor in such a way that third parties are not able to view it. This encryption is mostly taking place between the browser of the computer user and the web server.
Importance of Encryption
Encryption has crucial importance in modern website designs. Internet users who understand these things will only be comfortable providing their details on websites that they know are secure. The way for them to see if a website is secure is through the HTTPS in the beginning of the address or a padlock sign appearing beside the website's name.
Once they have seen this indicator, they will feel comfortable with providing their sensitive information on the website such as their phone number, credit card number, bank details, social security number etc.
If you did not know, your website's ranking can also improve on search engine result pages if your website is using a security certificate. When a query is made on Google, the search engine giant would preferably put websites with encryption technology on top of the websites that don't have this technology incorporated in their website design.
A savvy website design firm that also understands SEO can help you best with your website's encryption and its rankings on search engines.