Search engines (especially Google) and major browser vendors are really cracking down on insecure sites.

For example...

Google ranks insecure pages (HTTP) worse than secure pages (HTTPS).

As of mid-2014 Google has openly stated that HTTPS is now part of their page rank algorithm. Simply put, insecure sites being served over HTTP will rank worse than secure sites being served over HTTPS.

If that's not bad enough...

Chrome, FireFox and other browser vendors are adding more and more visual cues that make even non-technical folks aware that your site is dangerous to view.

It won't take long until all insecure sites are seen as being malicious and untrustworthy, even if you're technically not doing anything wrong. Although honestly, I would classify not securing your site as doing your visitors a disservice.

But it gets worse...

Insecure sites allow anyone to intercept and read the traffic between your visitors and your site.

That's because insecure sites transmit all data over plain text. This makes your visitor's data sensitive to man in the middle attacks, which in turn could be a disaster for both your audience and yourself.

Remember, most people using your site aren't tech savvy, and don't understand that by logging into an insecure site they are leaking sensitive data. If their account gets compromised, guess who they're gong to blame? Yep, your site.

It's your responsibility as a site owner to protect your visitors from such attacks...

The good news is, securing your site over HTTPS (with SSL certificates) fixes all of the above problems.

Search engines will recognize that you care about security and they will rank you higher in organic search results.

Browser vendors will give you a secure green lock icon next to your domain name in the URL bar (just like this site). That's way better than a scary not secure label!