SSL Statistics By Website Traffic, Market Share and Usage

Introduction

SSL Statistics: SSL is short for Secure Sockets Layer, a security technology that allows a web server and a browser to create an encrypted link. This ensures that all data transmitted between the server and the client remains secure and private.

SSL has been replaced by Transport Layer Security (TLS), but the term SSL is still commonly used to refer to both technologies. This article includes several statistical analyses and current trends from different perspectives that will help you understand SSL’s effectiveness and security.

Editor’s Choice

• SSL Statistics show that Let’s Encrypt, a popular free SSL certificate authority, secures 58.3% of websites and holds a 62.4% market share in SSL certificates.
• More than 95% of the world’s top websites use SSL certificates to ensure user data protection and privacy.
• Due to increasing demands for online security, the global SSL certificate market is expected to reach USD 10 billion by the end of 2024.
• The number of websites adopting SSL certificates has grown by 57% from 2021 to 2024.
• Meanwhile, free SSL authorities, like Let’s Encrypt, issue over 50% of all SSL certificates worldwide.
• However, websites without SSL certificates account for 60% of cyber-attacks.
• Around 71.7% of websites across the globe have implemented SSL certificates in 2024 to secure communication.
• SSL Statistics further states that as of August 9, 2024, the number of SSL certificates on the internet has grown to more than 317 million.
• Surveys reveal that 85% of internet users feel more secure using websites with an SSL certificate, which increases their trust in the brand.
• Websites using SSL certificates report an SEO improvement of 35%, as search engines like Google favor secure websites in search rankings.

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General SSL Statistics

• According to a report published by Netcraft, Domain Validation SSL Certificates are used by 94.4% of websites.
• Extended Validation SSL has only 0.1% of the market, followed by Organization Validation Certificates (5.5%).
• When looking at the traffic percentage by certificate type, DV sites get 60% of the traffic, OV sites receive 27%, and EV sites take 13%.
• Meanwhile, in Alexa’s Top 100,000 websites, more than 21% don’t use HTTPS.

(Source: sslinsights.com)

• In March 2024, Google secures 96% of the traffic on its search engine, giving users a safer experience.
• Popular websites, especially those in the top 100,000, always use secure port 443 instead of unsecured port 80.
• Chrome users spend 93.2% of their browsing time on secure HTTPS websites.
• Chromecast has 98% of users, Macs have 97%, Windows and Android have 94%, and Linux has 86%.
• Trusted Certificate Authorities like DigiCert, Comodo, and others issue 95.77% of all internet security certificates.
• Around 85.5% of internet users only visit websites that seem safe.
• By the end of 2025, the cost of cybercrime will reach almost USD 10.5 trillion per year, up 15% from last year.

SSL Implementation Statistics

• Around 82% of websites globally now use SSL certificates to secure their connections.
• In SSL implementation, the North American region made up around 91% of websites that have SSL certificates.
• Europe holds around 87% of websites that are secured with SSL.
• On the other hand, in the Asia-Pacific region, about 76% of websites now use SSL security.
• The number of SSL certificates grows by 7% yearly due to increased e-commerce, online banking, and privacy laws.
• More than 95% of e-commerce sites use SSL certificates to protect payments and personal data.
• As mentioned in SSL Statistics, more than 95% of e-commerce websites use SSL certificates to secure financial transactions and protect personal information.
• In the same year, 12% of security breaches were caused by incorrect SSL settings or expired SSL certificates.

Key Benefits Of SSL

• Encryption scrambles data during transmission, ensuring that unauthorized parties cannot read it.
• Authentication confirms the website’s identity, helping to prevent phishing attacks.
• Data integrity guarantees that information remains unaltered while being transmitted.

SSL Certificates Statistics By Market Share

(Source: sslinsights.com)

• The global market was USD 167 million in 2023 and is estimated to reach USD 282 million by 2028.
• The growth rate of the market will grow at a CAGR of 11% from 2020 to 2028.
• SSL Statistics further states that as of August 9, 2024, the number of SSL certificates on the internet has grown to more than 317 million.

By Certificates

(Reference: sslinsights.com)

• At the same time, the above graph further states that on the Internet, SSL by Default made up around 38% of the certificate share.
• Furthermore, other SSL certificate shares are stated as LetsEncrypt (23%), GoDaddy SSL (11%), HSTS (10%), Common Name Invalid (4%), Sectigo SSL (3%), and others (7%).

By Country

• SSL Statistics also show that the United States has more SSL certificates than any other country, with more than 34 million issued in August 2024.
• Meanwhile, Germany ranks second in the world, with almost 14 million certificates issued globally.
• In Eritrea, the whole country has only 45 SSL certificates, showing very low online security usage.

SSL Certificate Authorities’ Usage Statistics And Market Shares For Websites

• The global SSL certification market was valued at around USD 3.5 billion in 2023 and will grow to USD 4.2 billion by the end of 2024, reflecting a growth rate of 7 to 8%.

(Source: w3techs.com)

• As of September 17, 2024, around 2.9% of websites do not use any of the SSL certificate authorities that are being tracked.
• On the other hand, another 2.9% of the websites use Invalid Domains, 0.7% (Certificate Expired), Unrecognized Authority (0.1%), and Self-signed (less than 0.1%).
• SSL Statistics also show that Let’s Encrypt is used by 58.3% of websites, giving it a 62.4% market share in SSL certificates, and usage accounts for 58.3% of the share.
• Furthermore, other SSL certificate authority market shares and usage share in September 2024 are followed GlobalSign (15.2% & 16.3%), Sectigo (6.3% & 6.7%), IdenTrust (4.6% & 4.9%), DigiCert Group (4.6% & 4.9%), GoDaddy Group (4.1% & 4.4%), Certum (0.6% & 0.6%), Actalis (0.5% & 0.6%), Secom Trust (0.3% & 0.4%) and Entrust (0.1% & 0.1%) respectively.

Since August 1, 2024, the fastest-growing SSL certificate authorities are stated below:

Top Five SSL Certificate File Formats Statistics, 2024

How Does An SSL Certificate Work?

(Source: sslinsights.com)

• SSL protects a user’s access to any unknown website.
• The web server sends its SSL certificate with the domain, server address, signature, and public key.
• The browser checks if the certificate is valid and matches the website’s domain name.
• If valid, the browser uses the certificate’s public key to create a secure session.
• During a secure session, the browser and server use public-private keys to encrypt and decrypt data.
• The padlock icon means the user’s connection to the website is safe and protected.

Benefits Of SSL Certificate

(Source: sslinsights.com)

• As of 2024, more than 95% of websites use HTTPS with SSL certificates to secure data exchanges.
• SSL Statistics show that 82% of users abandon a website without a security certificate, indicating the importance of SSL for customer trust.
• Similarly, websites with SSL saw an average 15 to 20% higher ranking compared to those without.
• It’s estimated that businesses using SSL certificates have a 70% lower chance of being targeted by phishing.
• By the end of 2024, almost 95% of organizations handling personal data will be using SSL to ensure compliance.
• On average, E-commerce sites reported a 20% increase in conversion rates with SSL certificates.

HTTPS Encryption Statistics By Chrome Platform

(Source: transparencyreport.google.com)

• On September 21, 2024, the percentage of pages loaded over HTTPS in Chrome by different platforms was ChromeOS (99%), Android (98%), Mac (98%), Windows (94%), and Linux (81%).
• Based on browsing time, Chrome’s share in the same period was 99%, followed by ChromeOS (98%), Android (99%), Mac (98%), Windows (96%), and Linux (89%).
• In contrast, the share of loaded pages over HTTPS by country includes the United States (98%), France (97%), Germany (96%), Russia (95%), India (92%), and Mexico (91%).

SSL Website Traffic Statistics

(Source: similarweb.com)

• As of August 2024, the total number of website visits to ssl.com had reached 349.6 thousand, increased by 5.57% from last month and securing a 55.94% bounce rate.
• In the past three months, ssl.com’s global ranking improved from 144,983 to 129,771, showing a significant rise in its position.
• The number of pages per visit to the website was 3.44, and the average visit duration was 00:01:36.

By Country

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• SSL Statistics 2024: The United States had 16.24% of the website’s total traffic, up 24.41% from the previous year.
• During the same duration, other countries recorded the following contribution in total traffic: India: 5.01% (-12.83%), Poland: 4.39% (+10.33%), Russia: 4.3% (+2.98%) and China: 3.8 (+11.15%).
• Other countries togetherly made up around 66.26% of visitors shared on ssl.com.

By Device

(Reference: semrush.com)

• As of August 2024, traffic to SSL’s official website is largely driven by mobile devices, with 64.22% of visitors using mobile devices, while desktop users account for 35.78% of the total visits.
• need-ssl.com users make up around 75.62% of the United States user base, which is 76 thousand. Of these, 15.07% have access to the desktop version, and 84.93% have mobile devices.
• In the United Kingdom, the website secured 3.24 thousand users and 3.22% user traffic, with desktop users being 100%.
• Poland, Canada, and France each have around 2.24K, 2.22K, and 1.77K users, and their website traffic accounts for 2.22%, 2.2%, and 1.77%, respectively.
• The above three countries accessed the website via desktop, each resulting in 100%, 100%, and 100% of share.

By Demographics

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• In August 2024, male and female users of ssl.com were 35.29% and 21.06%, respectively.
• Similarly, SSL Statistics by age group states that the highest number of website users observed is 35.29%, which is between 25 and 34 years old.
• 21.06% of SSL website users are aged 35 to 44 years.
• In contrast, 18.36% and 13.49% belong to individuals aged 18 to 24 and 45 to 54, respectively.
• Around 7.12% of website users are aged from 55 to 64 years.
• 65-year-old users and those above age contributed 4.69% of user shares of ssl.com.

By Traffic Source

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• SSL Statistics 2024 also shows that organic search generated the highest traffic rate to ssl.com, accounting for 61.28%.
• Almost 29.73% of the share comprises direct traffic searches, while 6.4% is from referrals.
• Others are followed by paid searches (0.2%), social media (1.92%), mail (0.1%), and display (0.37%).

By Social Media Referral Statistics

(Reference: similarweb.com)

• As per SSL Statistics, LinkedIn had the highest social media referral rate, with a 66.94% share compared to other social network traffic.
• Google Group contributed a share of 33.06% on ssl.com.

SSL Pulse Statistics

(Source: ssllabs.com)

• SSL Statistics also show that SSL Pulse monitors SSL/TLS quality on 150,000 top websites and finds many concerning security problems in their protection.
• In a report from May 2, 2024, the total number of surveyed sites was nearly 134,495 (- 0.2%), followed by inadequate security sites (45.693 (-0.5%) and secure sites 88,802 (+0.5%).

Moreover, SSL labs grade share and total number of sites are detailed in the table below, on May 2024:

SSL Cipher Usage Statistics

• As of 2024, about 40% of websites still use outdated SSL ciphers, which can be a security risk.
• Around 60% of websites have upgraded to stronger, more secure SSL ciphers.
• TLS 1.2 remains the most widely used protocol, with over 80% of websites adopting it.
• TLS 1.3 has gained popularity, with usage increasing to 45% in 2024.
• Websites using weak ciphers like RC4 have dropped to less than 2%.
• The AES cipher is the most commonly used, securing around 70% of all websites.
• ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) is now used by 30% of websites for better security.

SSL As A Google Ranking Factor Statistics

• SSL is a small but important ranking factor, adding 1% to 2% to overall SEO scores.
• Around 95% of the websites on top search results use HTTPS.
• Websites without SSL might lose 10% to 20% of their traffic.
• The use of SSL certificates has gone up by 20% between 2020 and 2024.
• People trust websites more with SSL, and 84% of users avoid websites without secure connections.

Using SSL For SEO Helps You Rank Higher

• SSL Statistics says about 93% of website traffic now uses HTTPS, which needs an SSL certificate.
• Websites with SSL are twice as likely to appear on Google’s first page compared to those without.
• Google Chrome shows “Not Secure” for non-SSL sites, causing 23% more users to leave quickly.
• Websites with SSL certificates get a 5% higher search ranking because they are more secure.
• SSL certificates make websites load faster with HTTP/2, boosting mobile rankings by 1.5% in 2024.
• Over 90% of users prefer secure websites and trust websites that show HTTPS in the address bar.
• Websites without SSL certificates may lose 8% in SEO rankings because browsers and users avoid unsafe sites.

Factors Influencing SSL Demand

• The rise in cybercrime, especially phishing attacks (which went up by 58.2% in 2023), makes SSL very important for keeping websites safe.
• Governments are enacting stricter data protection laws, like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• As more companies do business online, they need SSL to protect sensitive customer information like credit card details. This has made SSL a standard for e-commerce sites.
• SSL certificates are now important for Google rankings. Those Websites using HTTPS will rank higher in search results.
• Around 62.1% of websites are currently using TLS 1.3, a newer and faster security protocol.

Conclusion

This SSL Statistics elaborates that SSL certificates have already become an essential component of online security over the past few years. They ensure encrypted communication between web servers and users and protect sensitive data such as financial transactions and personal information. The SSL certificate market is rapidly expanding, driven by the increasing need for security across websites, particularly with the rise in cyber threats like phishing and ransomware.

In today’s generation, knowing about SSL has become an essential factor for appreciating the evolution of internet security and how it effectively protects our digital interactions.

Maitrayee Dey

Maitrayee, after completing her graduation in Electrical Engineering, transitioned into the world of writing following a series of technical roles. She specializes in technology and Artificial Intelligence, bringing her experience as an Academic Research Analyst and Freelance Writer, with a focus on education and healthcare under the Australian system. From an early age, writing and painting have been her passions, leading her to pursue a full-time career in writing. In addition to her professional endeavors, Maitrayee also manages a YouTube channel dedicated to cooking.

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