Modern websites need to be SSL-enabled. In other words the URL of your website needs to start with https:// instead of http://. The Really Simple SSL plugin makes this whole process easier.
How to I find the Really Simple SSL plugin?
As per usual, this is a free plugin that can be installed from the WordPress Plugins Directory. Before you configure this plugin please make sure you’ve read the important accompanying information on this page. This is what you’re looking for:
What is Really Simple SSL?
To understand what this plugin is for you first need to understand why it’s important to have an SSL-enabled website. Whenever you visit a website and type information in to a form on that website the information need to get sent from your computer to the computer on the internet. In the past that information was just sent in plain text. Any hackers on the network could easily get access to that information and that presented a huge problem for confidential information being sent over the internet, such as credit card numbers, passwords etc.
By installing a SSL certificate on your website you fix that security hole since the traffic from the visitor’s computer to your website on the internet will now be encrypted. You used to need to buy a certificate but thankfully they’re now available for free using the likes of Lets Encrypt.
Once you’ve installed the certificate on your web hosting account you need to make sure your website actually uses it. That’s basically what Really Simple SSL does.
How to configure Really Simple SSL
There’s very little to configure on this plugin. Here’s how it looks with the default configuration that I like to use:
On the Settings tab these are the options I normally set:
You should find it impossible to visit the ‘http://’ version of your website once this plugin is installed and configured. No matter what you do it should always redirect to the ‘https://’ version of your site.
If you spot any errors in this article please get in touch. Don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube and please join my mailing list.
Last Updated on 24 November 2020 by Andy Mac