Best SSL Testing Tools for your Website

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) for a website is a standard security technology that ensures a trusted and encrypted link between a website and a browser. The SSL certificate basically secures a trusted data transmission between a web browser and a web server.

This way all the information given to a server through a browser is encrypted and not revealed to hackers. The information might include credit card numbers, social security numbers, and login credentials.

Implications of not having an SSL certificate is severe for marketers. Imagine all the time, energy, and money spent on increasing traffic, building a funnel, setting up a detailed email automation strategy (check out the latest marketing automation trends) etc. wasted just because people would not trust a business without an SSL certificate.

So having an SSL certificate for a website is a must if the owner wants to provide a secure and trusted environment for its users so that they can easily submit all the necessary information to the website.

All the browsers have the ability to form a trusted connection with a server if the server has an SSL certificate. The certificate is usually shown by the green lock in the URL bar.

To diagnose status of your SSL certificate and make sure it’s working smoothly you can use some SSL testing tools. Here are a list of them:

1. ssllabs

   SSLlabs is a comprehensive SSL testing tool that allows you to diagnose different issues with your SSL. Example of the information this tool provides you with include certificate issuer, validity, algorithm used to sign, handshake simulation, cipher suites, protocol details, etc.

   

2. Sslshopper

   Ssl Shopper is a fast SSL checker that you quickly diagnose problems with your SSL certificate installation. You can verify the SSL certificate on your web server to make sure it is correctly installed, valid, trusted and doesn’t give any errors to any of your users.

   

3. Immuniweb

   Immuniweb is a free tool that tests different aspects of your SSL security including web server SSL test, email server SSL test, SSL certificate test, PCI DSS, and HIPAA & NIST test.

   

4. SSL Store

   SSL Store is another tool that can verify that the SSL Certificate on your web server properly installed. SSL Checker will display the Common Name, server type, issuer, validity, certificate chaining, and some other certificate details.

   

5. Wormly

   Aside from diagnosing your SSL status, Wormly identifies many different other metrics and reports on your website including Expiration of certificate status, Trust chain information, Encryption details, Error messages, etc.

   

6. SSL Scanner

   Another SSL testing tool, SSL scanner allows you to analyze different metrics and provides you with a report.

   

7. Fairssl

   As a fast SSL checker, Fairssl provides different information. What sets this tool apart is the possibility of downloading each section of the information it provides.

   

The importance of checking your SSL:

It’s important to keep an eye on your SSL certificate as it’s got an important role on how your visitors trust you. Ance your certificate is expired, people would see an “authentication error” and this would basically drive your visitors away from you.

Checking your SSL gets more important if you have an ecommerce or subscription site. Users know the value of security and would definitely avoid submitting their personal or financial information to you if they see andy authentication errors in your site.

The green padlock or the https:// is maybe one of the first signs people would look for just to make sure they’re doing business with a reliable partner.

Apart from trust in doing business, SSL might have an impact on your traffic and its different metrics such as bounce rate. As SEO would tell you, bounce rate could be considered one of the signs Google uses to evaluate the authority of a website. Let’s say you’re ranking for a specific keyword. If visitors click on your page on SERPs and enter your page just to see that you don’t have an SSL certificate or that you have authentication errors, they might leave your page right away, increasing your bounce rate. This sends a sign to Google that your website is nor trusted by visitors so maybe it shouldn’t rank high on SERPs.

Which tool to use:

Depending on the type of information you need from your SSL tester, you can use from among many different tools. Some tools are more graphically appealing while others have maintained a more simplistic design. Some tools provide more handing features on their premium plans. It’s important to keep in mind what you’re going to achieve with these tools and what tool you need to invest on.