Secure delivery is the floor, not a feature

What it actually protects

It encrypts what passes between the visitor's browser and your server, so anybody in between cannot read or alter it. That includes anything typed into a form.

It also proves the visitor reached your site, not something pretending to be it. That is the part most people never think about.

On a shared network, without it, your contact form is readable by anyone paying attention. That is reason enough on any site with a form.

It also proves the visitor reached your site rather than something pretending to be it, which is the part most people never think about.

It is worth knowing what an attacker on the same network can do without it. They can read the form your customer is filling in, change the phone number on the page before it reaches them, and inject anything they like into your site's appearance.

Why it is not optional now

Browsers mark insecure pages with a warning. On a page with a form the warning is large and alarming. Visitors read it before your headline.

Search engines have treated it as a signal for years. The effect is small. The visitor reaction is not.

Most hosts issue one at no charge, and renew it for you. There is no cost argument left.

Browsers have also been escalating the warning for years. What was once a small grey icon is now a full interstitial on some pages, and the direction of travel is only one way.

Mixed content

This is the common failure. The page is delivered securely, and something on it is not: an image, a script, a font, an embedded video.

The browser either blocks the item, so part of your page vanishes, or drops the padlock, so the page looks unsafe. Neither is acceptable.

It usually comes from an old link written years ago and never changed. To find them, search your content for the insecure prefix.

• An image referenced with an insecure address
• A script loaded over an insecure connection
• A font from a third party
• An embedded video or map
• A stylesheet from an old plugin
• A link written years ago and never updated

Redirecting properly

Every insecure address should redirect to its secure twin, for good. Nobody should ever land on the old version.

Combine that with the www decision so there is exactly one final address form, reached in one hop rather than two.

Update your internal links to point at the final version directly, rather than relying on the redirect to clean up after every link.

Combine it with the www decision so there is exactly one final address, reached in one hop rather than two.

Renewal

Certificates run out, often within months. An expired one shows a full page warning that stops visitors dead.

Auto renewal is standard now, and it does fail sometimes. A reminder to check once a quarter costs nothing.

This is one of the few faults that takes a site from working to unusable in one moment, with no warning.

Auto renewal is standard now and it does fail sometimes. A reminder to check once a quarter costs nothing and prevents a full-page browser warning.

Check the expiry after any migration too. Moving host, changing DNS or adding a subdomain are the three moments an automatic renewal silently stops working.

What it does not do

It does not make your site safe in general. It guards the connection, not the software, the passwords or the content.

It does not stop form spam. It does not protect a stolen account. It does not make you compliant with anything.

Treat it as the front door being locked. Necessary, and not the whole of security.

It guards the connection, not the software or the content, and it does not make you compliant with anything.

How ours is handled

Sites published through Website Builder Studio are served securely with certificates issued and renewed automatically, and insecure addresses redirect permanently to the secure form.

Every page passes a check that runs before anything publishes, validated against Google Search Essentials and modern web standards, and that check refuses a page loading anything over an insecure connection.

So mixed content cannot reach the published site, which removes the most common way the padlock disappears after a content edit.