Those of us on the web are trying to stay safe and secure wherever we can. From using VPNs to securing our home’s Wi-Fi, it’s a constant battle. For those who run websites, it’s also super important to use SSL to protect internet traffic whenever possible. This is why the Electronic Frontier Foundation (also called EFF) came up with Let’s Encrypt a few years ago.
You see, one barrier to getting website owners to run SSL was the formerly-expensive process of getting an SSL Certificate, which could cost hundreds of dollars per year. Now, with Let’s Encrypt, there’s a free, automated and open method to get achieve an SSL certificate for your domain(s).
While having Let’s Encrypt around is great – there was one other piece. Not all companies who offer web hosting (like GreenGeeks – which hosts this site and my other sites) support Let’s Encrypt.
That’s the good news here, GreenGeeks is now fully compliant with Let’s Encrypt Wildcard SSL- so GreenGeeks customers can now enable SSL for free on their websites. Woo hoo!
Why is enabling SSL on your website important?
Well – a few reasons. First, it’s just good practice. Secondly – Google is now degrading the search engine optimization of sites that are not SSL-enabled. Lastly – Google Chrome (the web’s most popular browser, holding about 48% market share) will soon start to display a “Not Secure” label when a site is not SSL-compliant. So, as a result, visitors to your site will think your site is not secure and have a perception that you’re not taking steps to protect security all around. That’s not a good situation.
What does Let’s Encrypt mean to GreekGeeks?
I asked GreenGeeks what achieving Let’s Encrypts support means and they said:
“GreenGeeks is committed to ensuring websites adopt HTTPS encryption. With the recent launch of Let’s Encrypt we make it easier for all website owners to implement HTTPS on their websites.” – Kaumil Patel, Chief Operating Officer.
Kudos to GreenGeeks for taking this step! And if you’re a GG customer – go get your cert now by contacting GreenGeeks support.
Also – in a related announcement – Techcraver.com is now SSL enabled!