Retailer Web Services Digital Advisor Winter 2018 | Page 12

FEATURE
DID YOU
KNOW...
Google Could
be Scaring Your
Customers Away?
A
s you execute your store’s digital marketing
strategy in 2018, take note: Your web
developer should now consider site security
just as important as design, usability and
content. Google hasn’t been shy about its plan to
continually escalate how aggressively its browser
communicates security warnings. And in late
October 2017, it released a new version of Chrome
that does just that. With that update, the browser
now shows “Not Secure” whenever users begin to
enter text in any field on any HTTP page.
Since most retail websites have (or should have!)
a field for users to enter text inside the header—a
search bar—Google’s latest change essentially
means every page of your site should meet its new
stringent security requirements to avoid displaying
intimidating warnings.
A quick way to find out if your site is secure is to
look at the URL in the browser. Does it start with
HTTP or HTTPS? The added “S” means it is SSL
enabled, or in other words, secure. As part of the
Chrome update in October, Google announced
the browser will now show a message to users of
non-SSL-enabled sites warning them of the lack of
security.
SO, WHAT IS SSL, EXACTLY?
According to The Sociable news site, “SSL (Secure
Sockets Layer) is a standard security technology
that establishes trust between the website visitor
and the website. Enabling SSL on your site requires
an SSL certificate and configuring your domain a
certain way.”
An SSL certificate creates a secure and encrypted
connection so data can be safely transferred from
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