PCI Compliance
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that ALL companies who process, store or transmit credit or debit card information follow a stringent set of rules. Therefore, having an SSL Certificate[1] in every aspect of the process is pivotal.
Essentially, no company can get a merchant account for processing card payments from a reputable acquiring bank without demonstrating PCI Compliance.
Security
Even without running an e-commerce website, every website that collects customer data needs to encrypt the traffic between the user’s web browser and the web server collecting and saving the data. An SSL is essential for this type of data encryption and transmission.
SEO Ranking
Google has been influencing in influencing the rapid adoption of SSLs on websites. Back in 2014[2], they announced that they were starting to use the presence of an SSL certificate on a website as a “ranking signal”. Essentially, a website with an SSL will rank higher than one that does not, provided all the other ranking factors are equal.
Ranking higher makes a difference in today’s highly competitive e-commerce environment.
Credibility
Higher-end SSL like Extended Validation (EV) SSLs require extra steps for validation. They are typically only issued to legally registered companies and non-profits. The registration details, legal address and telephone number of the entity applying for this type of SSL are all validated before being issued.
The benefit[3] is that an e-commerce website user can confirm the company’s validity by clicking on the SSL padlock in the address bar of their web browser.
This process helps to prove the entity’s credibility that owns the said website.
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