Technical SEO

SSL Certificate

Quick Definition

An SSL certificate is the cryptographic credential that enables HTTPS by encrypting traffic between browser and server.

In context

Most hosts include free SSL via Let's Encrypt. Paid certificates (C$50–C$500/year) offer extended validation and warranty but provide no SEO advantage over free Let's Encrypt certificates.

Have a question this didn't answer?

Book a free 60-minute strategy call. We'll explain how this concept applies to your specific situation.

Book a Free Call Browse 50+ Detailed Answers

Related terms

X-Robots-Tag (HTTP header)

The X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP response header that controls indexing behaviour — equivalent to the <meta name="robots"> tag but applied at the HTTP level, useful for non-HTML resources (PDFs, images).

307 Temporary Redirect

A 307 status code is a temporary HTTP redirect that, unlike 302, is guaranteed to preserve the original request method (POST stays POST, not converted to GET).

DOM (Document Object Model)

The DOM is the browser's internal representation of an HTML page as a tree of nodes, which JavaScript can manipulate.

5xx Server Errors

5xx status codes (500 Internal Server Error, 502 Bad Gateway, 503 Service Unavailable, 504 Gateway Timeout) indicate the server failed to fulfil a valid request.

Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are Google's three real-user performance metrics: LCP (loading), INP (interactivity), and CLS (visual stability). They're a confirmed ranking factor.

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint)

LCP measures how fast the largest visible element on the page loads. The 'good' threshold is under 2.5 seconds for 75% of users.

Back to all terms