An SSL certificate is what puts the padlock next to your website’s address and makes it start with https://. It encrypts everything between your visitor’s browser and your website, so nobody in between can read or change it.
Why it matters for a business website
- No “Not secure” warning. Browsers warn visitors about sites without a certificate, and many will leave straight away.
- Contact forms are protected. Names, phone numbers and messages are encrypted on the way to you.
- Google prefers it. HTTPS has been a ranking signal for years.
Today, a business website without a working certificate looks broken to visitors.
Do you need to pay for one?
For almost every small business, no. Free certificates from Let’s Encrypt, or the ones included by Cloudflare and most good web hosts, give exactly the same encryption and the same padlock as paid ones.
Paid certificates add identity checks on the company behind the site, but browsers no longer show anything different to visitors for them. Unless a bank, government agency or client contract requires a specific type, a free certificate is the right choice.
Certificates expire, and soon they’ll expire faster
Every certificate has an expiry date. Industry rules are steadily shortening how long a certificate can last: from March 2026 the maximum is 200 days, and it keeps dropping over the next few years. Manual renewal once a year is no longer realistic.
The fix is automatic renewal. Most hosts and Cloudflare do this for you. If your site has ever shown a “Not secure” or “Your connection is not private” warning out of the blue, automatic renewal isn’t working.
How to check yours
Click the padlock (or the “Not secure” label) next to your address in the browser. It shows whether the connection is secure and, under the certificate details, when it expires.
Getting it sorted
- Warning showing right now? Our website emergency fix covers expired and broken certificates: $145 + GST, and you pay once it’s fixed.
- Want it never to happen again? Every website care plan includes the certificate and automatic renewal.
Rather we fixed it? Website down or showing errors: $145 + GST. You pay once it's fixed.