How to add an SSL certificate for WordPress within 2 minutes

2 min readDec 20, 2020

First, Let’s understand the SSL and HTTPS.

Before installing the SSL certificate for a WordPress site or a blog, Let's understand the purpose of the SSL certificate.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It is the protocol where encrypted HTTP data is transferred over a secure connection. Using secure connections such as Transport Layer Security or Secure Sockets Layer, data privacy and integrity are maintained, and websites' authentication is also validated.

What is an SSL certificate?

SSL Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the HTTPS protocol and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser. Typically, SSL is used to secure credit card transactions, data transfer, and logins, and more recently, it is becoming the norm when securing social media sites' browsing.

Why is an SSL certificate required in a WordPress Site?

Keep data secure between servers.

SSL Certificates protect your sensitive information, such as credit card information, usernames, passwords, etc.

Increase your Google Rankings

If you own a website or a blog, then you need to have an SSL enable in your website to increase your google rankings because Google doesn’t want to show a not secure website to their users.

Build/Enhance customer trust

If the SSL is not enabled on your website, google labels it as a not secure website, leading users not to enter your website.

How to enable SSL on your WordPress site?

We will do this with a small plugin called Really Simple SSL, which needs no setup required. So you don’t need much coding knowledge with this plugin.

First, you need to get an SSL certificate. You can get either a free SSL certificate, or you can buy one.

Go to Plugins in your WordPress site, and search “Really Simple SSL” plugin on it.

Here, you can see there are more than 5 million active installations in this plugin. To enable SSL on your website, you need to install this plugin and click active. The rest of the things will be handled by this plugin.