By installing an SSL certificate, you will protect your clients’ personal information and will ensure that your website is secured and trustworthy. Moreover, since Google announced that it will use “HTTPS” as a signal for search engine results, many webmasters rushed to encrypt their website connections.

Update! SSL certificates are mandatory for all types of websites. If you don’t encrypt your site, browsers will flag it as not secure. Moreover, It won’t be featured in SERP.

SSL certificates vary by validation types, issuers, and other particular features such as the possibility to encrypt subdomains. So, how do you choose the best SSL certificate for your website?

You may start with analyzing these three “C” key elements:

  • Cost. Will you lose money if you pay less? Not necessarily. Estimate your budget for purchasing the SSL certificate according to your business needs. If you own a small blog, then a Domain Validation may be a good fit for you. But if you want to receive payments on your website, then you should definitely pay more and buy a Business Validation or an Extended Validation SSL Certificate which comes with a higher level of security,  making your customers trust your website much easier. Yet, if you are a company which sells SaaS products, and you have multiple domains or sub-domains for customer accounts or for testing purposes, then you should definitely choose a Wildcard certificate which secures one domain and multiple sub-domains, or a UCC/SAN SSL Certificate which secures multiple domains and sub-domains. In this way you can ensure the security for the entire structure of your online presence;
  • Convenience. Are you in a rush to get an SSL Certificate? If yes, then opt for Certificate Authorities like Rapid SSL who issue most of their SSL certificates within minutes. If you are not in a hurry, then you can analyze other aspects when deciding on the best SSL Certificate for your project. But keep in mind that the issuance speed depends on the validation level. If you need the strongest SSL Certificate with the highest security level, then you will have to wait a few days until it will be issued;
  • Confidence. Do you need to provide your customers with the highest level of security assurance? Then you should choose the Extended Validation SSL Certificates, as it can empower your website with a trusted mark so that your clients will be fully confident that they can trust your website and that their sensitive data is protected.

Consider the following features when purchasing the best SSL Certificate for your site:

  • Encryption level. In accordance with your needs, you may choose between standard encryption levels of 128-bit and 256-bit. The last one is today’s standard choice.
  • Warranty. Warranties are identifiers for the quality of the provided services on the SSL Certificates market. The bigger the warranty amount is, the higher their security encryption level, and the better are the services that the Certificate Authority provides for those SSL Certificates;
  • Device browser compatibility. Most of the SSL Certificate providers guarantee compatibility with 99% of web browsers. Yet, if you mostly conduct your business on other devices than PCs, such as smartphones, then you have to make sure that your SSL Certificate will work on mobile devices, too. Since the trend of using such devices is increasing during the last years, consider to invest in an SSL Certificate that is compatible with all types of mobile devices;
  • Expiration policy. You certainly do not want to put your website at risk if you forget to renew your SSL certificate, right? And you definitely do not want to scare your customers with the red “X” HTTPS flag in your URL. In this case, you must check the expiration date of your SSL Certificate before making your purchase;
  • Customer support. You want to make sure the dedicated customer support will be there 24/7 to help you solve any issue. They should address security issues immediately. An instant, professional, and always available customer support is very important.

Once you’ve checked all these characteristics, you should be ready to buy the best SSL Certificate for your website. Check our SSL Certificates and choose the best one for your business.