How Do SSL Certificates Affect On SEO?

[MirzaeeMustafa]

Does really a SSL certificate affect on SEO? How? Why?

According to my hosting provider (ganje.host), "https" improves SEO!

As I know, It decreases speed. So how does it improve SEO when my speed is slower than before?

[Chris.Menke]

Mirzaee,

For some years now, enabled https has been included as one of google's ranking factors. On some sites, it is probably more of a factor than on other sites. And, yes, site speed is also included as a ranking factor. There are some things you can do to speed up a  slow https site. Here's an optimization checklist from right here on Moz: https://moz.com/blog/enabling-https-without-sacrificing-web-performance.

[DarinPirkey]

Two things to think about with SSL.

1. Google looks at is a trust signal.  It shows you are actively trying to protect the users that come to the site.  Google had an article on this in 2014.  https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

2. How users perceive the site.  I personally take less advice from sites with no SSL.  Mostly because, to me, it's a sign they aren't up to date.  But also, it can deter certain people from making purchases and subscribing to your list without it.

There is "technically" a slowing down of the site with SSL, but with proper installation and configuration it's not much. There is encrypting/decrypting overhead when the site uses SSL.  The word "slower" doesn't mean snails pace.  It is usually a few milliseconds difference if configured correctly.

Simply adding an SSL cert isn't enough. It is technically a site change and you'll need to do some things to inform Google that the site has change.  I HIGHLY RECOMMEND doing the upgrade to HTTPS during a time the site doesn't have much traffic.  It can take a few weeks to implement correctly in the SERPs. You can read more about it here. https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6033049?hl=en