Search engine optimization (SEO) has been a popular buzzword for nearly three decades. Simply put, SEO involves implementing several best practices to ensure your website ranks well on search engines like Google and Bing. These practices may include using the right keywords, building brand authority, creating backlinks, and more.
However, one critical aspect that is often overlooked is security. Just like other SEO best practices, security can either improve or harm your SEO rankings, depending on how it’s implemented. When Google and other search engines detect that your website lacks essential security features or is infected with malware, it can result in a lower ranking or even complete removal from search results.
Recovering your SEO rank can be a challenging process, with many websites never fully recovering, especially if they were blacklisted due to malware. Today, I’ll be sharing the key security factors that impact your website’s SEO rankings. Let’s get right into this.
HTTPS as a Ranking Factor
Since 2014, Google has included HTTPS as a ranking factor, meaning websites with SSL certificates and secure connections are given preference in search results. Having an SSL certificate installed on your website ensures that user interactions between your site and their devices are encrypted.
Websites using HTTPS not only protect user data but also align with Google’s push for internet safety. This ranking boost incentivizes website owners to adopt secure protocols, benefiting users with safer browsing and enhancing overall search quality.
Impact on Websites Affected by Malware
A recent report by SiteLock shows that over 12.8 million websites are affected by malware. A significant percentage of these websites get affected when they install themes or plugins from untrusted sources. To ensure user safety, Google and other search engines actively penalize websites deemed unsafe or compromised.
Sites with malware, phishing attacks, or security breaches are flagged with “This site may harm your computer” warnings, discouraging users from visiting them. Additionally, unsafe sites may experience ranking drops or removal from search results entirely. This article explains how to tell if your website has been hacked by highlighting common warning signs.
Higher Bounce Rates from Security Warnings
Unsecured or hacked websites significantly harm user experience by displaying browser warnings like “Not Secure” or redirecting users to malicious pages. These warnings erode user trust, causing visitors to leave immediately, which increases bounce rates. As users spend less time on the site and exit quickly, search engines interpret it as less relevant or trustworthy.
This combination of higher bounce rates, reduced dwell time and damaged trust ultimately leads to lower SEO rankings and decreased visibility in search results.
Impact of Website Downtime Due DDOs
Every day, between 20,000 and 40,000 websites and online services experience DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. These attacks flood a website’s server with excessive traffic, causing it to become unusable or crash completely, resulting in downtime. Website downtime, caused by DDoS attacks or server hacks, can make a site inaccessible to users and search engine crawlers.
During downtime, crawlers may fail to index the site, leading to missed updates or even removal from search indexes. Frequent or extended downtimes negatively impact SEO rankings, as search engines prioritize reliable, stable websites. Maintaining uptime is crucial not only for user satisfaction but also for ensuring consistent search engine visibility and ranking performance.
Best Practices to Improve Your Website’s Security
Understanding the importance of security for your website’s SEO rankings is just the beginning. Let me guide you through the security practices that you must implement right away to significantly enhance your website’s security.
- Installing an SSL Certificate (Transitioning to HTTPS): As I have shared earlier, an SSL certificate encrypts data between your website and users, ensuring secure communication. Switching to HTTPS improves user trust and is a ranking factor for Google and all the other major search engines, positively impacting your SEO. You can use platforms like Let’s Encrypt to get a free SSL certificate for your site.
- Regular Updates and Patching of Software/Plugins: Keeping your website’s core software (such as WordPress), plugins, and themes up to date ensures that vulnerabilities are fixed promptly. This reduces the risk of attacks that target these vulnerabilities since they are always made public after the release of the updates.
- Avoid Installing Plugins and Themes from Random Sources: Using plugins or themes from unverified sources can introduce malware or backdoors to your site. Always choose reputable sources to protect your site from potential security threats that could harm your SEO.
- Using Two-factor Authentication: Implementing strong authentication, like two-factor authentication (2FA), adds an extra layer of security, making it harder for hackers to access your site and compromise your rankings. Use security plugins like Wordfence to enable 2FA for your site.
- Running Regular Website Security Scans and Audits: Frequent scans help identify vulnerabilities or malware early. Addressing these issues quickly prevents security breaches that can damage your SEO performance. Wordfence can also be used to do search scans. Check out this article to learn how you can conduct a security audit in under 30 minutes.
- Implementing Firewalls and Anti-Malware Solutions: Firewalls and anti-malware tools block malicious traffic and protect against attacks, ensuring your site remains safe, functional, and SEO-friendly.
- Monitoring Google Search Console for Security Issues: Google Search Console alerts you to security problems like hacking or malware. Always address these warnings promptly to help maintain your site’s trustworthiness and search rankings.
Key Takeaway
If you care about your website’s SEO ranking (and you should), it’s important to prioritize its security just as much as other factors like keyword optimization and backlinking. This article has covered the key best practices you can use to secure your site. The good news is that most of these practices are easy and usually to implement if you have the right tools. Remember, your website’s security not only boosts your SEO ranking but also improves your brand’s reputation and enhances the user experience for your site visitors. Ensure to make it a top priority.