Free Hosting With SSL Certificate for WordPress

You may be familiar with the term “SEO” as it relates to search engine optimization. However, did you know that there is also “dark SEO” or “black hat SEO” that is done for the purposes of trying to trick search engines into ranking a website higher than it would otherwise be able to?

You may be asking yourself “is my site ranked highly enough already?” If not, then maybe it’s time to consider getting a free SSL certificate for your WordPress site.

Why Does My Website Need An SSL Certificate?

When we think about ranking websites higher on search engine results pages, we often think about improving our blogs’ SEO. However, did you know that having an SSL certificate can also improve the user experience on your site?

The “S” in the acronym “SSL” stands for “Secure Sockets Layer.” What is this feature and why do websites use it?

The SSL feature was first developed by Netscape in 1994 as a way to create a secure, encrypted connection between a user’s browser and a website’s server.

The encryption feature of SSL prevents anyone from tampering with or seeing any information being transmitted in the clear.

With SSL enabled on your site, all of the information sent between your website’s visitors’ browsers and your server is encrypted. This means that even if someone were to intercept the information, it would be difficult for them to understand what it means.

An example of where you would want to use SSL is if you are sending credit card information to a third party server. You would want to use SSL to keep your credit card information secure while on the way to the credit card processing company.

How Do I Get My Website’s SSL Certificate?

The first thing you will need to do is choose a hosting company that supports WordPress and offers free HTTPS (SSL) support.

You should also consider looking for a free WordPress SSL certificate, as these will usually be provided by the hosting company.

Once you have your hosting company’s SSL certificate, you will need to install the certificate onto your website’s server. If you are using the free version of WordPress, then this will be fairly easy. First, you will need to visit your website’s dashboard and click the wrench icon to open the WordPress settings page. On this page, you will see a section that says “SSLOptions” – here you will want to enter the information of your SSL certificate.

You also need to make sure that the “Secret Key” setting is also set to the correct information. This is a security feature that prevents anyone from tampering with your website’s content. Keep this key secret as it is not safe to put it in the open online.

Once you have entered these settings, click the “save” button to continue to the dashboard’s main page. From here, you can click the “login button” to log in to your WordPress website.

What About The CNAME Record Setting?

The CNAME record is important for any website or blog because it allows you to have multiple websites tied to the same hosting account. A CNAME record allows you to point your “www” subdomain to a new domain. For example, if you have a blog named “The Beauty Blog,” then you could have a second blog “The Fashion Blog” that is also tied to the same hosting account. When a user types in “www.thebeautyblog.com” into their browser, the domain “www.thebeautyblog.com” needs to point to the IP address of “thebeautyblog.com.”

To create a CNAME record, you will need to go to your hosting company’s DNS management interface and look for the domain that you want to point to. In the above example, you would want to point “www.thebeautyblog.com” to “thebeautyblog.com.” Once you have the proper CNAME record in place, you can use the “www.” subdomain to point to your new domain.

Is The SSL Certificate Enough?

As we mentioned above, the “SSL” in the acronym “SSL” stands for “Secure Sockets Layer.” Did you know that this feature provides you with additional security for your website?

An SSL certificate is only as good as the security policy of your website. To be on the safer side, you could consider getting a second-level certificate that also offers “OCSP stapling,” which is an extension of SSL that provides you with additional security.

What is “OCSP” and why is it important?

“OCSP” is an abbreviation for “Online Certificate Status Protocol.” The official website for OCSP explains that, “OCSP allows a certificate issuer to provide additional information about a certificate’s status. The protocol was originally designed for checking the validity of a certificate quickly and efficiently. The information provided by OCSP allows organizations to comply with a growing list of legal obligations, and give their customers and users confidence that the certificate is legitimate.”

OCSP stapling is when a website or blog gets an “A” from the OCSP and then uses that “A” to sign a letter or document that they send to the Certificate Authority (CA) that issued their certificate. The CA will have to update the certificate with the new information or it will invalidate their entire certificate.

Getting an SSL certificate and using it correctly can be quite easy. However, if you are looking to learn more, then be sure to check out the links below.