Add free ssl to your wordpress site for free for life and connect Cloudflare
SSL Secure Socket Layer is known as the standard security technology for creating an encrypted link between a server and a browser. This secure link ensures that all transmitted data remains private and protected. This link is also called TLS (Transport Layer Security). Millions of websites use SSL encryption every day. A day to secure communications and keep their customers’ data safe from surveillance and tampering, and today we will learn how to add ssl for free in a simple and easy way.
Why do we use SSL?
Any website on the Internet must start with HTTPS, and this is because:
Performance: A modern free secure SSL plugin can improve page load times.
Security: Encrypting your traffic with SSL ensures that no one can snoop into your users’ data.
Trust: By displaying a green padlock in the browser’s address bar, SSL increases visitor trust.
Regulatory Compliance: SSL is a key component of PCI compliance.
Add ssl and connect it to Cloudflare
I will give you a detailed explanation of how to create an account on Cloudflare.com so that you can add ssl for free and simply.
Create an account on Cloudflare.com
This step is the first and most important step in adding free ssl and connecting it to Cloudflare, follow these steps:
Go to www.cloudflare.com.
Then click on “sign up” or register.
Enter your email address.
Then type “Password” or a password. Your password must meet the conditions shown in the image.
Finally, click on “Create Account” or create an account.
After creating your Cloudflare account, go to verify your email. You should receive an email from Cloudflare to verify your email.
Open it and click on the link provided to finish the verification process.
Log in to Cloudflare and connect your website to it
After verifying your email address, go back to www.cloudflare.com.
Click on “Log In” or log in.
After that enter “Email” and “Password” and click on “log in”.
If you’ve already added your website to your account and connected your domain to it, you should skip and go directly to the “Set up your website’s security and speed configuration” section of this SOP and you’ll be able to add ssl for free.
After logging in, you will see that “You do not currently have any websites”.
Then click on “Add Site”.
Enter your site (the domain you purchased – eg “nofalseo.com”).
Then click on “Add site”.
Now choose the “free” plan.
Then click on “Confirm plan”.
You should change the distinguished “value” to your website’s public IP address. Leave this page open in your browser.
Get your IP address from Google Cloud
Open another tab in your web browser.
Go to your Google Cloud dashboard.
Press the “menu button” menu button in the upper left corner.
In the list, go to “Compute Engine”, then click on “VM instances”.
You will find your IP address. Copy it.
Go back to “Cloudflare” and paste it in place of the “value” or distinct value.
After editing it should look like this (of course with your IPv4 Public IP).
Click on “Continue” or continue.
Change the names of your servers
After pressing “Continue”, you will see new servers names for the domain. For this SOP, we purchased a domain from GoDaddy.com so we’ll show you how to change your servers names on Godaddy.com. Cloudflare will always tell you which servers to replace no matter where you purchased your domain. The option to manage name servers will always be under the “DNS” settings.
For the SOP, we will describe this on domain from GoDaddy.
First, leave Cloudflare open and in another tab of your browser, go to godaddy.com.
Then click on “sign in” or on the login.
Enter your account information and click “Sign In” or choose to sign in with “Google” if you’re using it to create a GoDaddy.com account.
After logging in, you should see the “domain” you purchased. Click on “DNS” to access the DNS settings.
Now you should see the “Nameservers” page. Click “Change”.
Then enter your servers names in advanced.
Now you should see two boxes labeled “Nameserver 1” and “Nameserver 2”. Leave this page open.
Go back to Cloudflare.com and copy “Nameserver 1”.
Now go back to GoDaddy.com and put it in the “Nameserver 1” box.
Now you should do the same with “Nameserver 2”. Go back to Cloudflare and copy “Nameserver 2”.
Then go back to GoDaddy.com and put it in the “Nameserver 2” box.
Now press save or “save”.
After saving, refresh the GoDaddy.com page.
As you can see, your domain is now using custom servers.
Then go back to Cloudflare.com and click “Done, check server names”.
Set up the security and speed configuration for your website
If you have connected your website to the domain with Cloudflare previously, to enter the SSL configuration, you must choose “SSL / TLS” after logging into your Cloudflare account and selecting your site.
If you have performed the previous steps of this SOP, you will be automatically redirected to the SSL/TLS setup after you click Done, check servers names.
Then choose Flexible.
Make sure the switch is “on” next to the “Always use HTTPS” option.
Check all boxes within the auto minify option.
Then set the “Brotli” option to “On”.
Finally, click on “done” or done.
Note that domain DNS settings are now managed by Cloudflare, so if you have to modify any of your DNS records in the future, you will have to do so on your Cloudflare account.
Checking if your domain is secured and properly assigned to your website is one of the steps to add free ssl.
Do the following:
Enter your domain in your web browser and hit enter on your keyboard.
You must be connected to your website.
Now click on the lock on the left side of your website address and check if it is locked.
Now, I congratulate you. SSL has been added for free, and everything has worked successfully. Your domain is connected to your site and secured with an SSL certificate. Your site, my dear, is secured and ready to receive its visitors.