Is my website secure?
Check the SSL certificate for any website — validity, expiry, and who issued it.
What is an SSL certificate?
An SSL/TLS certificate encrypts the connection between a visitor's browser and a website, preventing third parties from intercepting data. It's what puts the padlock icon in your browser's address bar and enables HTTPS.
Certificates expire and must be renewed — typically every 90 days (Let's Encrypt) or 1–2 years (paid CAs). An expired certificate will trigger browser security warnings and can hurt your Google search ranking. This tool checks the expiry date and flags if renewal is overdue.
Certificates are issued by Certificate Authorities (CAs) — trusted organisations like Let's Encrypt, DigiCert, and Sectigo that verify ownership of a domain before issuing a certificate. Modern hosting platforms and services like Cloudflare, Netlify, and Vercel handle certificate issuance and renewal automatically, so most website owners never need to manage this manually.
Frequently Asked Questions
My certificate says it's expired — what should I do?
Contact your hosting provider or log into your hosting control panel. Most managed hosting platforms renew certificates automatically. If you manage your own server, run certbot renew (for Let's Encrypt) or follow your CA's renewal instructions. An expired certificate will show a security warning to all visitors until it's renewed.
What is a wildcard certificate?
A wildcard certificate covers a domain and all its subdomains — e.g. a cert for *.example.com covers www.example.com, shop.example.com, blog.example.com, and so on. The "Domains Covered" list in the results shows all domains the certificate is valid for.
Why does Google penalise sites without SSL?
Google has used HTTPS as a ranking signal since 2014. Sites without a valid SSL certificate are marked "Not Secure" in Chrome and other browsers, which increases bounce rates and damages trust. For any site that collects data — even just an email address — HTTPS is effectively mandatory.
Is a free Let's Encrypt certificate as good as a paid one?
For most websites, yes. Let's Encrypt provides Domain Validation (DV) certificates that encrypt traffic just as effectively as paid options. Paid certificates additionally offer Extended Validation (EV) which displays the company name in some browsers, and often come with warranty insurance — but these extras matter primarily for financial institutions and e-commerce, not typical websites.