If you’re in your process of creating a website, you must be well aware of the fact that a website is much more than just web design. With the internet getting swamped with a variety of website designs and websites, users are prone to a lot of insecurities. So, there has been a great demand for websites to be secured.

Now, how does a user know that a website is secure and safe? Well, it’s easy!

You only have to look at the web address of a website. The web addresses starting with http:// are not considered safe by the cyber authorities. However, those starting with https:// are safe. So, the extra ‘S’ here apparently means ‘security’.

So, where does this ‘S’ come from? Here, we will discuss everything about it.

First off, let us tell you that SSL is important. Without this certification, your website is not safe for the digital space, and some cyber authorities won’t even allow such websites to open on a user’s device.

To avoid that, you need to get the SSL certificate. But first, let us know what it is.

SSL is a certificate that website owners need to buy t make their website secure for online transactions, logins, data transfers, and securing their personal information on social networking websites. This certificate combines the domain of a website and the host or server. They also combine the identity of an organization with its location.

Every organization with a website needs to buy an SSL certificate to offer safe and secure browsing sessions and create a trustworthy online environment for visitors.

In technical terms, an SSL certificate contains small files of data that create an encrypted link between a web browser and a web server in a cryptographic manner. This link ensures that data that travels from the server to the browser stays private and secure.

SSL is mandatory for organizations that collect private information from users like email IDs, phone numbers, credit card details, e-wallet details, etc. With https://, a user can rest assured that they have landed in a safe space and can share their information without any doubt.

There are many types of SSL certificates that you can choose from:

- Domain Validation Certificate (DV)
- Organization Validated Certificate (OV SSL)
- Extended Validation Certificate (EV SSL)
- Wildcard SSL Certificate
- Single Domain SSL Certificate
- Unified Communications (UCC SSL) Certificate
You can learn more about these certificates by contacting a website development experts and learning which one you need for your website.

If you’re having trouble getting an SSL certificate, it is best if you get help from an expert and let them suggest to you what’s best for your domain and website.

However, if you’re doing it on your own, you need to first figure out which kind of certificate you are looking for. You can check out this guide on how to choose between the major types of these certificates.

Now, these certificates can be purchased at varied prices. The price of the certificates depends on the period of validation. There are also many options for free SSL certificates available that you can choose.

You can either choose a certificate where you can pay per month or a custom certificate. The validation period of certificates also differ. Mostly, they are validated for about 1 or 2 years but there are also some long-term options that you can seek.

Now, if you are all new to it or if you’re not the techie kind, you might be wondering how to know whether your website is SSL-certified or not. To know if your website has SSL, you can look for these three factors:

- Look for the https:// in your website URL. If the URL has http://, it does not have SSL.

- Look for the padlock icon in front of your URL. The padlock is a sign of an SSL-certified website. In other words, when a user sees that icon, they will know your website is secure.

- Check if your certificate is still valid. Your website might have an https:// as well as a padlock icon and can still not be SSL-certified. This is when your certificate has expired. You can check this in the Security tab of your Developer Tools option in the web browser. In the Overview section, you can see if your certificate is still valid or not.

So, with this information, you can learn a lot about SSL certification and why it is important for your website. If you want to learn more about it, get in touch with the website developers in Punjab at Creative Room. We are experts in website design and development and we can help you resolve all the issues related to your website.