A digital certificate used in HTTPS to help authenticate a website’s domain and establish encrypted connections using TLS.
A practical example
A visitor opens an HTTPS page and the browser checks the certificate during connection setup.
What to watch for
“SSL certificate” is common shorthand for modern TLS certificates. HTTPS protects transport; it does not prove a business is trustworthy or make an application immune to attacks.
Related reading
Explore Domain Name and Technical SEO. See how this fits into Web design.