How To Get and Install Free SSL Certificate On Your Site

What is an SSL Certificate?

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, which is a secure protocol developed for sending information securely over the Internet. SSL Certificate is typically used to secure credit card payments, transfer of data, and web logins. And more recently is becoming the standard for secure browsing of social media sites. In this tutorial, you will learn how to get and install a free SSL Certificate On Your Site.

Why need an SSL Certificate?

If you are using an SSL Certificate on your site, the information transferred to your site stays encrypted. So, only the intended user can have access to that information making your site secure and trustable. With SSL Certificate, your users will be able to open your website on https. ‘S’ with https stands for secure.

How to get a free SSL Certificate for your site?

Pre-requisites –
For getting started with this, you need to have a Domain Name & Hosting.

STEP 1:-

Login to your hosting account. And, traverse to the root directory of your site on which you need to provide the SSL certificate.

STEP 2:-

Go to zerossl.com then click Online Tools. Under FREE SSL Certificate Wizard click Start.

Details Tab – In the Domains field, write the domain names where you want to apply the SSL Certificate. You can also give multiple domain names following by space. For example – yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.com

These are the two ways to open a website.

Now, Tick checkboxes Accept ZeroSSL TOS and Accept Let’s Encrypt SA (pdf). And click next and wait till it generates the CSR. You can copy the Let’s Encrypt key and the CSR for future use.

After CSR is generated, Click Next -> Copy CSR -> Click Next -> Copy Account Key (Let’s Encrypt Key)

STEP 3:-

Verification Tab –

This step involves verification of the domain name. It verifies that the domain you have mentioned is not someone else’s domain. They will provide a file for each listed domain. Copy and Paste these files to the folder specified. In this case, “webroot/.well-known/acme-challenge“. webroot is the root directory of your site.

After pasting the files, go back to ZeroSSL and click Next.

STEP 4:-

After successful validation, you will get the Domain Certificate and the Domain Key. The Domain Certificate is consists of Certificate Chain and CA Bundle.

Go to cPanel of your hosting then search for SSL. Click on the SSL Option. You may be given further options after clicking.

For eg., Install and Manage SSL for your site (HTTPS).

Click it and search for where to select the domain for which you need to install the SSL. You may find the following three option:-

Certificate: (CRT)
Private Key (KEY)
Certificate Authority Bundle: (CA BUNDLE)

Copy and Paste the first part of the Domain Certificate (Certificate Chain) in the Certificate CRT area. The second part of Domain Certificate goes to CA Bundle. And Finally, the Domain Key belongs to the Private Key.

Click to Install the certificate.

After a successful installation, your site will be eligible to open on HTTPS. The SSL Certificate will be valid for three months. But remember that people will still be able to open your site through HTTP. Worry not! There is a way for you to force your site to open only on HTTPS.

Important Note* – The Option Names maybe not similar for all the hosting sites.

Thanks for reading the blog. If you have any query regarding this, don’t forget to ask in the comment section below.

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