{"id":41761,"date":"2024-11-24T13:22:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-24T11:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/2024\/11\/24\/how-to-add-free-ssl-to-wordpress-with-lets-encrypt\/"},"modified":"2024-11-24T13:22:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-24T11:22:33","slug":"how-to-add-free-ssl-to-wordpress-with-lets-encrypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/2024\/11\/24\/how-to-add-free-ssl-to-wordpress-with-lets-encrypt\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Add Free SSL to WordPress with Let\u2019s Encrypt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are SSL<\/a> and Let\u2019s Encrypt? Every internet user shares huge amounts of personal information every day. We do this when we shop online, create accounts, visit various sites and so on. If it is not properly encrypted, this information can be tracked down and stolen. This is where SSL<\/a> comes in. It offers encryption technology that makes the connection between the browser and the server secure. Every site uses a unique SSL certificate for identification. If a server pretends to use HTTPS but its certificate does not match, most modern browsers will warn the user not to connect to that resource.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Previously the only way to get SSL protection was a paid SSL certificate. Let\u2019s Encrypt is a free open certificate authority that offers SSL to a wide audience. It is a project of the Internet Security Research Group, supported by a large number of major companies, including Google, Facebook, Sucuri, Mozilla, Cisco and others.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

The Easy Way \u2013 Use Hosting That Offers Built-In Free SSL<\/p>\n

With the growing popularity of Let\u2019s Encrypt, many WordPress hosts now offer built-in SSL setup out of the box. Therefore the simplest way to get SSL is to sign up with such hosts.<\/p>\n

Setting Up Free SSL with Let\u2019s Encrypt on SiteGround<\/h2>\n

SiteGround<\/a> is one of the most reliable and best-known hosting companies that offer built-in support for free SSL. To enable free SSL, just go to cPanel and scroll to the security section, where you need to click the Let\u2019s Encrypt icon.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

This opens the Let\u2019s Encrypt installation window. You will need to choose the domain name you want to use with free SSL and enter a valid email address.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Now you can click the install button and you will be issued a unique SSL certificate for your site. Once you are done, you will see a success message.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Congratulations, you have just successfully added free Let\u2019s Encrypt SSL to your site. However, your site is not yet ready to use it. First you will need to update your WordPress addresses and fix insecure content problems. Don’t worry, we will explain how to do this in the Updating Addresses step.<\/p>\n

Setting Up Free SSL with Let\u2019s Encrypt on DreamHost<\/h2>\n

DreamHost<\/a> is another popular WordPress host that offers built-in integration for setting up free SSL on any domain. First you need to go to the DreamHost admin and, under the Domains menu, click Secure hosting.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

On this page you need to click the Add Secure Hosting button. DreamHost will now ask you to choose a domain, and at the bottom you will have the option to add a free certificate from Let\u2019s Encrypt. You need to make sure this box is ticked.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Optionally, you can choose a unique IP address for your domain name. This is not required, but it improves compatibility with old versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP. Click Add Now to complete the setup and DreamHost will begin setting up your free SSL certificate. In the end you should see a message like this:<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

You have successfully added a free SSL certificate with Let\u2019s Encrypt to your hosting. But you still need to update your WordPress addresses to fix content security errors, so go to that step later in the article.<\/p>\n

Installing Let\u2019s Encrypt Free SSL on Other Hosts<\/h2>\n

Free SSL from Let\u2019s Encrypt is a domain-based SSL certificate. This means that if you have a domain, you can add it to any host. However, if your host does not support easy integration like SiteGround or DreamHost, you will have to go through a procedure whose length varies from host to host. Most companies have documentation explaining how to do this. You can also contact the support team for more detailed instructions. Bluehost, which is one of the official WordPress hosts, offers third-party SSL for the domains you host with them.<\/p>\n

Updating WordPress Addresses After Setting Up SSL<\/h2>\n

After setting up a free SSL certificate with Let\u2019s Encrypt, the next step is moving the address from HTTP to HTTPS. An ordinary site without a certificate uses the HTTP protocol with the corresponding prefix in the address bar:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.example.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Secure sites with SSL certificates use the HTTPS protocol. This means their addresses will look like this:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.example.com<\/em><\/p>\n

You will not be able to use SSL without changing the addresses on your site. How do you do that?<\/p>\n

For a Clean Site<\/h3>\n

If you are working with a completely new site, you just need to go to the WordPress admin panel and click Settings. There you need to update the WordPress Address and Site URL fields to use https.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.example.com<\/p>\n

For Sites That Are Already Running<\/h3>\n

If your site has been online for a while, there is a good chance it has already been indexed by search engines. Users may have saved it as HTTP, so you need to make sure all traffic is redirected to the https address. First you need to install and activate the Really Simple SSL plugin. The plugin will automatically detect your SSL certificate and configure the site to use it. In most cases you will not need to change anything else, since the plugin also fixes insecure content problems.<\/p>\n

Updating Google Analytics Settings<\/h2>\n

If you have Google Analytics installed on your site, you need to update its settings and add your new https address. Go to your Google Analytics dashboard and click Admin in the top menu. Then click Property settings under your site. There you will see the default URL option. Click http and choose https.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Do not forget to save the settings.<\/p>\n

\n

Our specialization is WordPress website development and maintenance. Contact us for a free consultation \u2014 vadim@coma.lv<\/a>, +371 29394520<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are SSL and Let\u2019s Encrypt? Every internet user shares huge amounts of personal information every day. We do this when we shop online, create accounts, visit various sites and so on. If it is not properly encrypted, this information can be tracked down and stolen. This is where SSL comes in. It offers encryption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1225,1407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wordpress","category-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}