#Asia How increasing your web security can impact your SEO results

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The security of your website has a big role to play in attracting organic traffic

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These days, as more and more online businesses begin to proliferate, it has become more important to get your business ranked on the vaunted Google search rankings. This certainly is not an easy task. As a startup CEO, bringing more visibility and web traffic to your website could be the difference between becoming another startup flameout or the next big thing.

To get started, search engine optimisation or SEO, is the process of improving your startup website’s search rankings on Google.

This is critical to any website. Being ranked on page one of Google search results for relevant keywords that could funnel loads of organic web traffic to your site.

As a former Marketing Manager, a highly recommended refresher course for first timers is the Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO. There are many factors at play here (based on Google’s search algorithm) that could ultimately affect where you rank on Google search.

One factor that definitely plays a key role in your SEO rankings is website security. Here are the top security issues for your website that need to be addressed in order to increase your SEO effectiveness.

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)

Take a look at your browser’s address bar and you might find that certain websites that you visit are designated with a green padlock icon and the phrase “https://” written next to it. This simply means that this website allows all transferred data between a visitor’s web browser and the website to be encrypted. Google has officially announced that they will begin using HTTPS as one of the search factors for their ranking algorithm.

Furthermore, sites that Google deems to be suspicious due to its lack of HTTPS usage, can also appear with an alarming “this site may be harmful” message by Google. This can have a major impact on your SEO rankings and conversion rates by web visitors.

Also Read: Why startups must prioritise web security before it’s too late

Typically, all regular HTTP traffic is sent from a user to a website as “plain text”, which means the any transferred data can be read by web hackers. HTTPS is critical for startups that need to collect sensitive customer data, such as for online purchases. One way for you to get started with HTTPS and protect your customer information is to purchase an SSL certificate.

Most hosting providers offer options to receive discounted deals for SSL certificates. To learn more about SSL certificates and how they work, take a look at this brief overview on why SSL certificates are critical for your startup.

Malware

Malware Detection and Removal

By now, most veteran web surfers (pretty much, everyone these days) have come across the term “malware” once or twice before. Malware is defined as any malicious software that intends to attack or damage a computer and its systems. Web hackers can launch spear phishing attacks to infect a victim’s computer with malware by enticing them to download a suspicious file or visit a dangerous website.

Malware can then enable cyber criminals to remotely control the victims’ computers to launch more sinister attacks, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, that can completely take your website offline.

A great way to mitigate malware is to utilise a scanning tool to help keep your network and infrastructure clean. In addition, most malware protection services offer real time protection to prevent malware from accessing your system. Even if malware is able to penetrate into a closed network, a simple malware removal tool can help remediate these issues. Here is a listing of the best malware removal programs that users can take advantage of this year.

Website defacement

Website Defacement is one of the most visible and, quite possibly, the most insidious web attacks. These are attacks made by web hackers with the sole purpose of discrediting your website’s reputation by changing product pricing on eCommerce sites, uploading inappropriate images, posting inappropriate content, etc. This not only can hurt your online business financially, but can have a lasting impact due to the major hit on your startup brand reputation.

Although website defacement doesn’t have a direct impact on SEO rankings, this type of attack can really affect how your actual website shows up on search results. A major part of SEO is optimising keywords so that users can find your business based on relevant search terms.

Also Read: How to make high-quality SEO work for you

However, it can permanently ruin your trust if your search results show up with completely irrelevant or derogatory meta descriptions, image previews, content previews, etc. One highly effective way around this is to utilise a web application firewall (WAF) service to block these attacks from ever happening in the first place. WAFs can be your first line of defense against web hackers before they strike.

As more business turn to the web to expand their services and products, web security will be a key ingredient for success. Not only will it protect your startup and customers’ sensitive data, but it can actually impact your online SEO rankings. Get started with these recommended solutions today to boost your SEO influence!

The author, Joey Song, is the Business Development Manager for Cloudbric, a cloud based web application firewall (WAF) service for small and medium businesses. In his free time, he enjoys freelance writing, playing guitar, and following the NBA.

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