HTTPS and SSL for Accounting Websites: Setup Guide

HTTPS is the secure version of the web protocol that transfers data between your website and your visitors' browsers. When your website uses HTTPS, all data in transit is encrypted so it cannot be read or intercepted by third parties. For accounting firms, running a website without HTTPS in 2026 is a significant problem: it affects your Google rankings, it triggers "Not Secure" warnings in Chrome that damage client trust, and it raises questions about your GDPR compliance when collecting personal data through contact forms.

The good news is that HTTPS is now straightforward and free to implement. Most UK hosting providers include SSL certificates at no additional cost, and enabling HTTPS typically takes minutes rather than days. This guide explains what HTTPS is, why it matters specifically for accounting firms, and the exact steps to implement and maintain it.

What HTTPS and SSL actually are

When you visit a website using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), data travels between your browser and the web server in plain text. Anyone positioned between your browser and the server, such as someone on the same public Wi-Fi network, could in theory read that data. This includes any information you type into a form.

HTTPS (HTTP Secure) adds an encryption layer called TLS (Transport Layer Security), which is the current name for what was originally called SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). You will see both terms used: "SSL certificate" and "TLS certificate" refer to the same thing in common usage. This encryption means data transmitted between your visitors and your server is scrambled and unreadable to anyone intercepting it.

The HTTPS connection is indicated by a padlock icon in the browser address bar. You will also see https:// at the start of the URL. In contrast, HTTP sites display http:// and in modern Chrome browsers, a "Not Secure" label appears directly in the address bar before the URL.

Why HTTPS matters for accounting firms

Rankings: Google confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal in 2014 and has continued to give increasing weight to it since. While Google describes it as a "lightweight" signal, meaning it will not overcome a significant content deficit, it does provide a modest rankings boost over HTTP equivalents. More significantly, running HTTP is increasingly seen by Google as a quality signal in itself: professional sites run HTTPS.

Client trust: When a potential client visits your website to enquire about services, they see the "Not Secure" label in the Chrome address bar before they read a single word of your content. Chrome is used by the majority of UK web users. Seeing "Not Secure" next to the URL of an accounting firm, a business handling sensitive financial information, is a reasonable cause for concern. In competitive local markets where multiple firms appear in search results, this visible trust signal can directly influence whether a visitor contacts you or a competitor.

GDPR compliance: If your website collects personal data through contact forms, email newsletter sign-ups, or client portal logins, you are a data controller under UK GDPR. Transmitting personal data over HTTP (unencrypted) is difficult to defend as a proportionate data protection measure. While the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) does not specifically mandate HTTPS in all cases, running an unencrypted website that collects personal information is a risk your practice should not carry.

Google's recommendation: Google recommends HTTPS for all websites regardless of whether they collect sensitive data. Most UK hosting providers now include free SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt, removing the cost barrier that existed when HTTPS first became a ranking factor.

How to check if your site is on HTTPS

Open your website in Chrome. Look at the address bar. If you see a padlock icon and the URL begins with https://, your site is already using HTTPS and your SSL certificate is active.

If the URL begins with http:// or you see a "Not Secure" label in the address bar, your site is not secured. Even if your site currently redirects HTTP to HTTPS, confirm the padlock is present on the final URL.

You can also check your SSL status and expiry date using the free tool at ssllabs.com/ssltest/. Enter your domain and it will return a detailed report including your certificate's validity period and any configuration issues.

How to get an SSL certificate

The most widely used source of free SSL certificates is Let's Encrypt, a non-profit certificate authority supported by major technology companies. Let's Encrypt issues certificates valid for 90 days and renews them automatically when installed through compatible hosting platforms.

The practical steps depend on your hosting provider:

Kinsta, WP Engine, SiteGround, Cloudways: All include free SSL certificates and enable them through their hosting dashboard. Log into your hosting control panel, find the SSL section (usually under "Security" or "HTTPS"), and enable it for your domain. Renewal is automatic.

Fasthosts, 123-reg, GoDaddy UK: These providers include free Let's Encrypt SSL in their standard hosting packages. In your hosting control panel, look for "SSL Certificate" or "SSL Manager." Select the Let's Encrypt option and follow the on-screen steps to activate it for your domain.

cPanel hosting (common with many UK providers): In cPanel, navigate to "SSL/TLS Status" or find the "Let's Encrypt SSL" tool. Select your domain from the list and click "Run AutoSSL" or "Issue Certificate."

If you cannot find where to enable SSL in your hosting control panel, contact your hosting provider's support team and ask: "Please enable a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate on my domain and configure automatic HTTPS redirects." This is a routine request that any hosting support team can action, typically within the same day.

What to do after enabling HTTPS

Enabling the SSL certificate is step one. Several follow-up actions ensure your migration to HTTPS is complete and that you do not lose any SEO value in the process.

Set up 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS. When someone visits http://yourfirm.co.uk, they should be automatically redirected to https://yourfirm.co.uk. This is usually done via your hosting control panel or through an .htaccess file on Apache servers. Ask your hosting provider to confirm this redirect is in place. Without it, both the HTTP and HTTPS versions of your site exist simultaneously, which can cause duplicate content issues.

Update your canonical URL setting. In your CMS (WordPress and most website builders have this setting), confirm your "Site URL" or "WordPress Address" is set to https://yourfirm.co.uk rather than http://. This ensures all internal links generated by your CMS use HTTPS.

Update Google Search Console. HTTPS and HTTP are treated as separate properties in Google Search Console. Add the HTTPS version of your site as a new property and verify ownership. If you previously only had the HTTP property, the new HTTPS property will start accumulating data from scratch, but your rankings are carried across by the 301 redirects.

Update Google Analytics. In Google Analytics 4, update your data stream URL from HTTP to HTTPS to ensure traffic is attributed correctly.

Update your Google Business Profile. If you have a Google Business Profile listing (essential for local search), ensure the website URL in your profile uses https://.

Mixed content errors: the common post-migration problem

After enabling HTTPS, some websites develop what is called a "mixed content" error. This happens when your page is served over HTTPS but some of the resources it loads, such as images, JavaScript files, or CSS stylesheets, are referenced using HTTP URLs in your code.

When mixed content is present, the browser cannot guarantee the page is fully secure. Chrome may display a partially broken padlock icon or strip the padlock entirely. The "Not Secure" warning may reappear for affected pages.

To identify mixed content errors: open your website in Chrome, press F12 to open DevTools, and click the "Console" tab. Mixed content warnings appear in yellow or red in this console, and they specify exactly which resources are being loaded over HTTP.

The most common causes are:

• Images uploaded to your CMS with hardcoded http:// URLs in the image source attribute
• Third-party embeds or widgets using HTTP references
• External scripts linked with http:// in your theme or plugin files

The fix is to update the references from http:// to https://, or in many cases simply to // (a protocol-relative URL that inherits the current page's protocol). In WordPress, the Search and Replace plugin or the wp-cli search-replace command can batch-update all HTTP references in the database.

HTTP Strict Transport Security: worth understanding but usually handled automatically

HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) is a security policy that instructs browsers always to use HTTPS for your domain, even if someone types the HTTP version of your URL. Once a browser has seen your HSTS header, it will refuse to connect to your site over HTTP for the period specified in the policy (typically one year).

HSTS provides additional protection against certain types of attack, including SSL stripping, where an attacker intercepts the initial HTTP request before the redirect to HTTPS can occur.

For most accounting firms, HSTS is handled automatically by your hosting provider when you enable HTTPS. You do not need to configure it manually. If you want to confirm HSTS is enabled, check the SSL Labs test at ssllabs.com/ssltest/ and look for "Strict Transport Security" in the results. A result of "Yes" means HSTS is active.

Key takeaways

• HTTPS encrypts data between your website and visitors' browsers; all accounting firm websites should use it given the sensitivity of financial and personal information.
• Google has confirmed HTTPS as a ranking factor; HTTP sites also display a "Not Secure" warning in Chrome that directly undermines client trust.
• Most UK hosting providers include free SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt, making HTTPS free to implement in most cases.
• After enabling HTTPS, set up 301 redirects from HTTP to HTTPS, update your CMS URL settings, and update Search Console and Analytics properties.
• Check for mixed content errors (HTTP resources on HTTPS pages) using the Chrome DevTools Console after migration.
• HSTS is typically handled by your hosting provider; you do not need to configure it manually.

Frequently asked questions

My SSL certificate expired. What happens to my search rankings?

An expired SSL certificate causes browsers to display a full-page security warning, and most visitors will leave immediately. Search Console will likely flag the issue. Renew the certificate immediately. If you use Let's Encrypt, most hosting platforms auto-renew it before expiry; if yours did not, contact your hosting provider to investigate why and ensure auto-renewal is re-enabled.

My website uses HTTP but has a contact form. Is that a GDPR problem?

It is a risk. UK GDPR requires you to implement appropriate technical measures to protect personal data. Transmitting form submissions in plain text over HTTP is difficult to defend as appropriate. If the ICO investigated following a data breach or complaint, this would be a relevant factor. Enabling HTTPS resolves the risk.

Does HTTPS make my website faster or slower?

Modern TLS adds a very small amount of latency (typically under 10 milliseconds) due to the handshake process when establishing the connection. In practice, this is imperceptible and is offset by HTTP/2, which is enabled alongside HTTPS on most modern servers and delivers faster parallel loading of page resources. HTTPS sites with HTTP/2 are generally faster than equivalent HTTP sites.

Will switching to HTTPS affect my existing Google rankings?

Switching with proper 301 redirects in place preserves the overwhelming majority of your ranking value. The 301 redirects signal to Google that your content has permanently moved from HTTP to HTTPS, and link equity (the ranking value from other sites linking to you) is transferred. Expect a brief period of minor fluctuation as Google re-crawls and reindexes your pages under the new HTTPS URLs, then stabilisation at similar or slightly improved positions.

How long does it take to enable HTTPS?

Through a hosting control panel, enabling the SSL certificate typically takes under five minutes. Setting up the HTTP to HTTPS redirect adds another ten to fifteen minutes. If mixed content errors are present, fixing those may take additional time depending on how many references need updating. In most cases, a complete HTTPS migration should be completable in one to two hours.