7 min read
Last Updated on July 25, 2022 by Ibe Princewill
Would your website lose visitors if it lacked SSL security?
Of course, it would.
Even those of us who are technologically impaired are aware of the padlock on the URL bar, especially if you are going to use a credit card to make a purchase.
But, as a website owner, do you realize how critical it is to correctly install and manage your SSL certificate?
SSL certificates are issued by certificate authorities, who are responsible for following prescribed protocols for the issuing of SSL certificates.
However, unless you’re hiring a professional to handle everything for you, here are 9 SSL Issues You Need to Know About and How to Fix Them.
What Is An SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that is used to establish a secure connection between a web server and a web browser. SSL certificates are used to encrypt traffic between a web server and a web browser and are used to authenticate a website.
Faulty Installation
I am beginning with a botched installation. The majority of SSL difficulties occur during installation and data transfer.
Incorrect email addresses and security keys, for example, might cause issues with domain verification.
To verify the owner of a domain that SSL protects, an email is sent to the address supplied for that domain.
If the email address is not saved or available, the domain remains unverified, and the SSL cannot be set up.
A quick email to the customer support team will get this settled.
Wrong Code Implementation
Another technique of verification is to insert a code from the SSL provider into the domain’s DNS TXT record.
Now problems develop when one person purchases the SSL but fails to provide the necessary verification code to the one installing it.
Then, there’s also name matching. A wildcard SSL certificate may be used to secure not just the primary domain of a website but also any subdomains that a customer may have.
If all subdomains aren’t given before installation, it’s a hard procedure to add them later, and these are just a few of the most common SSL issues that arise during installation.
Un-renewed Certificate
Now it’s important to note that most browsers won’t trust an SSL if it has a lifetime of more than 398 days.
So the certificate needs to be renewed before that period expires, and website owners avoiding auto-renewal might forget it, and then guess what will happen? The certificate expires.
HTTPS Redirects
When migrating a website to SSL, all old URLs should be redirected to HTTPS.
If the rerouted URL does not exactly match what the website visitor inputs, this might be problematic.
For example, if a frequent consumer bookmarks your .com domain without the www, they will have difficulty accessing your site when you relocate it.
This raises a warning, which may result in traffic loss, but the repair is straightforward, and you can always redirect using your Control Panel (CPanel).
SSL Certificate Not Trusted Error
This means that the SSL certificate has been signed or accepted by a firm that the browser does not trust.
That implies either the firm is not on the browser’s built-in list of trustworthy certificate providers, or the certificate was issued by the server itself.
Server-issued certificates are frequently referred to as self-signed certificates.
SSL Certificate Revoked Error
This error means that the Certificate Authority has terminated or withdrawn the SSL certificate for the website.
This might be because the website obtained the certificate using fake credentials (either accidentally or on purpose), the key was hacked, or the incorrect key was provided.
These issues result in an error message like: “Your connection is not private”.
Unsecured Site Mapping
Now let’s talk about Google Site Mapping. SSL issues with the site map can come up when moving an unencrypted website onto HTTPS.
Sometimes, working through all those redirects makes it easy to forget to update the site map with HTTPS prefixes.
This error can drop a site’s SEO ranking if Google crawls a sitemap where the pages are still using HTTP and the old site map is yet to be updated to the HTTPS version.
One can easily find the site map. Depending on the page you are using for your site map, update the links to HTTPS with a simple find and replace, and then upload it back to the website’s route folder.
An easy way to get this done is by using or installing an SEO plugin like Rankmath or Yoast to handle your sitemap update for you.
On WordPress, many plugins are available to create site maps, and these often can update to HTTPS automatically.
The sooner this gets done, the quicker those URLs get indexed, which means better SEO.
If a plugin won’t update the sitemap to HTTPS, the best resource is the plugin support forum, or by reaching out to the developer via email.
You can also just recreate a site map manually.
Mixed Content Warning
Now, one of probably the most problems when it comes to SSL is the mixed content warning.
When a webpage is set up properly with SSL but pulls content such as an image, iframe, JavaScript, or even just a link to another site from an unencrypted source.
This gives an error when it tries to load, and most of the time, all it takes is one single item on the page.
If you’re creating content on your website that pulls an image that aren’t stored on SSL it will be very bad for business.
Every link to the content you try to publish will display an error.
Rather than the images of your professional website, amazing services or even your photographer shared from an unencrypted database that you just pulled.
One of my favorite resources for this is whynopadlock.com.
You just type in your website and it’ll scan through and show you what’s not being called securely so you can make that quick fix.
Nice and easy.
With the importance search engines now place on SSL certificates, it’s easy to assume they are already included in the process of building a website.
In some situations. Yes, they are, but SSL issues can easily take up time and become a giant pain!
So make sure you double or triple-check that your SSL is taken care of.
Thankfully, professionals here at So Cheap Agency can help you out with that, and in some cases, should handle the process end-to-end from purchase to final installation.
Our experienced experts, who can handle installations and maintenance, are always just an email or phone call away.
It’s a small investment for big peace of mind knowing your website remains encrypted and in good standing when your website visitors arrive.
Other Common SSL Protocol Error:
This problem is quite difficult to address since there are several possible reasons, including:
- A faulty, unverified, or lack of digital signature.
- Use of an outdated encryption algorithm.
- A problem in the certificate’s chain of trust, the series of certifications that make up your site’s SSL encryption.
- An improperly formatted SSL certificate that the browser cannot parse.
- A firewall or other security software interfering with the SSL protection.
- A certificate that is not properly installed on the server.
We recommend contacting your hosting provider for assistance in troubleshooting the above. They’ve probably encountered difficulties like yours before.
Important SSL Tools
Some important tools to check for SSL issues online include:
Conclusion
As stated above, there are several reasons why an SSL certificate could not function.
However, the final consequence is the same for your visitors: they will get a notice in their web browser stating that the website they are about to visit is not safe or secure.
Obviously, this is not good for your reputation; therefore solve the absence of encryption as quickly as possible. Kindly drop a comment below if you need further help from our team!