Why growing websites need better SSL certificates

When your website really starts taking off and is regularly bringing in more visitors or purchasers, it’s an incredibly exciting time. But you may also be faced with the growing pains associated with having more traffic coming and going from your website. One area that you might neglect at this time is upgrading your SSL certificate to offer higher, more trustworthy levels of security.

Basic certificates (like the ones offered free via Encryption Everywhere) are fine for casual websites that do not serve a business purpose—and having a basic SSL certificate is still better than having none at all. But as soon as you start handling your visitors’ personal or financial information—whether that means collecting their name and email address or their credit card number—you’ll need a higher level of site verification, which is offered through more advanced SSL certificates.

The two types of validation you should look for

SSL certificates that offer higher levels of security include those that require Organizational Validation (OV) and Extended Validation (EV).

Organizational Validation ensures that the business is actually who they say they are by crosschecking the organization against business registry databases hosted by the government. Whereas a Domain Validated SSL certificate might not require an actual human to verify the domain details, an SSL certificate with Organizational Validation will often involve a real human who contacts the domain owners and asks for physical documents to verify their business identity. Commercial organizations that want a secure site should consider the Symantec SecureSite SSL with Organizational Validation.

Extended Validation offers the highest level of security for both website users and site owners. The world’s leading and most trusted websites and businesses use this certificate to increase online transactions and improve customer confidence.

Users who want to set up an SSL certificate with Extended Validation go through a strict vetting process that requires more documentation than Organizational Validation does to verify the business’s identity. But after all of that hard work is put in, website owners will be rewarded with a green validation box in the navigation bar, which indicates to users that your website has the highest level of safety and security available. Because it’s so difficult to spoof these green bars, your visitors can rest assured that your site is the legitimate business that you claim it is. Symantec’s SecureSite SSL with Extended Validation is the right choice for those who are serious about their website.

Explore upgrading your SSL certificate today.