Squarespace offers free SSL certificates for all Squarespace Domains and third-party domains connected to a site. With SSL enabled automatically, your visitors can access a constant, secure connection on every page of your site. Through SSL, your visitors see a lock icon next to your URL in the browser, showing that their information is safe.
What is SSL?
Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, is a technology that secures the connection between your browser and the website you’re visiting. To verify that SSL is protecting a page, look for a URL beginning with https://, instead of http://, and a green, closed padlock icon. This allows visitors to navigate the website and submit information through a secure connection.
SSL provides three important security benefits:
Privacy: Encrypts the connection between the browser and web server and securely transmits information (like login credentials) to prevent unauthorized parties from eavesdropping.
Data integrity: Prevents unauthorized parties from altering data during transmission (like during a Form Block submission).
Authentication: Protects against impersonation by requiring web server proof of identity.
Enabling SSL may also help more visitors find your site. In 2014, Google announced that SSL-secured websites would potentially enjoy a rankings boost in their search results.
How Squarespace uses SSL
If you have custom domains linked to your Squarespace site, we automatically generate an SSL certificate for your site. This allows visitors to view your site over an HTTPS connection. This is automatically included for Squarespace Domains and third-party domains.
If you’re using a third-party domain, ensure that it’s correctly connected to your site to allow a secure SSL connection. Specifically, confirm that you’re using our required CNAME records and A records.
When your site loads with SSL protection enabled, you’ll see a lock icon and https:// next to the URL in the browser bar
