SSL Certificate Checker
Verify your SSL certificate status, expiry date, issuer, and chain validity. HTTPS is a confirmed Google ranking signal.
Why SSL Matters for SEO
Google Ranking Signal
HTTPS has been a confirmed Google ranking signal since August 2014. Sites with valid SSL certificates receive a small but measurable boost in search rankings over their HTTP equivalents.
Browser Trust Signals
Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all display “Not Secure” warnings for HTTP sites. This degrades user trust and directly hurts click-through rates. Visitors are far less likely to submit forms or make purchases on insecure pages.
Expired Certificate Impact
An expired SSL certificate triggers a full-page browser warning that most users will not bypass. This effectively takes your site offline. Google will also stop ranking pages it cannot safely crawl.
SSL Best Practices
- Use auto-renewing certificates — Services like Let's Encrypt and Cloudflare offer free auto-renewing certificates that eliminate manual renewal.
- Monitor expiry dates — Set up alerts for at least 30 days before expiry. Most hosting providers and DNS services include this.
- Redirect HTTP to HTTPS — Ensure all HTTP requests 301 redirect to HTTPS to consolidate link equity and avoid duplicate content.
- Use strong algorithms — SHA-256 is the current minimum standard. SHA-1 certificates are rejected by modern browsers.