Websites
SSL Certificate
The short answer
An SSL certificate is what encrypts the connection between a visitor's browser and your website, shown in the browser as the padlock icon and a URL starting with "https://" instead of "http://".
Full explanation
Google has confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal, and browsers actively flag non-HTTPS sites as "Not Secure" — both a trust problem for visitors and a quiet SEO penalty for going without one.
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