This error message means that your SSL certificate (which gives your https ability) is either not active or the user is not using the https version of your URL.
In this article I will show you how to avoid it as you will be losing users because of this from browsers like Chrome and Safari because these browsers will be stopping people from going to your site if this is happening to your site.
- What does ‘connection is not private’ mean?
- What will it mean for your site?
- How to avoid ‘connection is not private’ error
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What does ‘connection is not private’ mean?
This error message is what is shown to a user in their browser if the site they are trying to access is not using an SSL certificate. An SSL certificate is what allows you to have and use an ‘https’ version of your domain name. These certificates allow the information send and received by the users on your site to be secure from visibility.
An example, of how this is useful is if someone is logging in to your site and not using the https version of your URL then it’s possible that hackers (who may be monitoring the wifi network in a public wifi area for example) could be able to view some of the login details used as they are sent across the network. They may also be able to see other data. As many people use the same username and login for many different online accounts getting even some of the details to an account means they have an easier time of hacking not only one account but many. Short story is, you don’t want this to happen.
What will it mean for your site?
When browsers and search engines notice you are not using an SSL cert a few things happen but all of them result in your site not being able to receive as many users. If a search engine detects this it is much less likely to show your site in its search results. If a browser detects this then, before loading the website, it will show a screen to the user saying ‘connection is not private’ and most likely they will not continue on to your site.
How to avoid ‘connection is not private’ error
There is a two step process here.
Step 1:
You may not have an SSL certificate or you may not have re-newed your original certificate. The process to do either will be done through your hosting account and each of the different hosts will have a different way to do this. The best thing to do is to contact your host and ask then if you have one and if you do if it is active.
Note, SSL’s are often free these days so you don’t need to pay for one really. For example, on Bluehost which I use for this site an SSL gets set up and renewed automatically when I create a new website on the account.
Step 2:
Once you have your SSL certificate then you need to force all your users to use that particular https://yoursite.com address as opposed to the http://yoursite.com version of the site.
You can do this by editing your site’s .htaccess file which will catch the user from entering the http version and send them to the https version.
