Website speed is a very important thing and you have to make sure that your website should load faster. If you have a slow website then you will miss out some traffic.
Because no one waits for a long time they hit the back button. Not only others but you can ask yourself, do you wait for a long time if any website to load?
The answer is obvious and it’s NO.
Not only we, humans but even Google don’t like the websites which take more time to load. The website loading time is one of the ranking factors as well.
There are many things which can help you to speed up your website.
Like you can do that by using a cache plugin, using a content delivery network and other things. You can search for it on Google.
Currently, I have not published any guide on my website about how to speed up the website but I will do it soon.
Today I will share my case study with you about SSL Certificate’s effect on website speed.
I will tell you does SSL Certificate slow your website?
Before August 2014 people online were not thinking much about the SSL Certificate. But we all started focusing on SSL Certificates from 6th August 2014 when Google officially said HTTPS is a ranking signal.
But you have heard that SSL Certificate slow down the website. What do you think is that true? or just a myth? I have created this case study to answer this question.
Does SSL Certificate Slow Your Website?
So let us now get started and check out if SSL Certificate really slow down your website or it’s just one of the myth floating online.
Before we start with this case study I would like to tell you that I am using SSL Certificate on 2 of my websites. I have used one of my own websites to check the effect of SSL on the website speed.
How did I Test This?
As I have already told you that I am using SSL Certificate on two of my websites. One among those two websites was started without SSL Certificate i.e. I had switched to https:// later on.
When I had changed the protocol to http:// to https:// I had added 301 redirect in .htaccess file of my website.
Here what that 301 redirect does is even if my visitors come to the http:// version of my website they will be automatically redirected to https:// version.
I tested the fully loading time of my website on GT Metrix on http:// protocol.
And I removed the 301 redirect from my .htaccess file.
Again tested the loading time of my website with the help of GT Metrix.
This is how I got to know the difference between the loading time of my website when it is loaded over SSL and when it is loaded without SSL certificate. (without https://)
Is there Any Difference in Website Loading Time?
Yes, there is a difference in the website loading time.
Website Speed Without SSL Certificate
Without SSL Certificate my website loads in 2.0 seconds. (fully loading time)
And when I check the speed or loading time of my website over SSL Certificate (https://) it was loading it 4 Seconds.
Website Speed With SSL Certificate
The time taken to load the website is doubled when it is accessed over SSL.
As the difference is the loading time got doubled to verify this I tested the loading time multiple times. But I ended getting the same results which are shown above.
I hope you got the answer for the question Does SSL Slow Your Website.
But if you ask your visitors to enter details like their credit card details etc. then it is highly advised to install the SSL Certificate.
And if you are running a personal blog or website then you can get SSL certificate for free. If you want to know how you can get it for free you can follow the link given here.
If you want me to assist while you install SSL Certificate then use this link.
Let’s Wrap Up The Things
So this was my case study about the effect of SSL Certificate on website speed. I hope you got the answer for the question. If you have any doubts in your mind then you can comment down below.
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