Google announced in a recent blog
post that it is starting to give higher priority to secure
sites that use encrypted ‘https’ addresses instead of basic, open 'http’. At
the moment, this will only account for about one per cent of the factors
affecting a site’s overall ranking, though Google might increase this In the
future. Even if you aren't asking your visitors for sensitive information,
Google is campaigning to include this level of security on all sites because it
gives visitors greater privacy from snooping.
If you want to take advantage of
the ranking boost, talk to your web host about the SSL options on your hosting
package. These can vary widely, but you can add security to a 1&1 account
for £3.59 per month (bit.ly/1and1ssl352), while 123-reg has a basic service for
an annual fee of £11.99 (bit.ly/123ssl352).
