If your website shows a "Not Secure" warning in the browser address bar, it almost always means there's a problem with your SSL certificate — the small file that encrypts traffic between your visitors and your site and unlocks the padlock icon.

This is usually quick to fix, and in most cases we handle it automatically.

What SSL Actually Does

SSL (technically TLS now, but everyone still says SSL) does two things:

• Encrypts data sent between your visitor's browser and your server — passwords, card details, form submissions.
• Proves to the browser that your site is who it says it is.

Without a valid certificate, browsers actively warn visitors away — which means lost trust, and for anything running an online form or checkout, lost business.

Common Causes

Cause	What it looks like
Certificate expired	Warning appeared suddenly, site was fine yesterday
Certificate doesn't match the domain	Warning appears on a specific subdomain (e.g. shop.yoursite.co.za)
Mixed content	Padlock shows but with a warning triangle; page has both secure and insecure elements
DNS recently changed	Warning appeared after moving hosts or updating nameservers
Certificate never issued	New domain, warning present since launch

How to Check

1. Click the padlock (or warning icon) in your browser's address bar.
2. Select Certificate or Connection is secure → Certificate details.
3. Check the Valid to date and the domain name listed on the certificate.

Certificates auto-renew on our managed hosting — if you're seeing this warning on a site we host, it usually means something interrupted that renewal (a recent DNS or nameserver change is the most common cause), not that anything is fundamentally broken.

Fixing Mixed Content

If the padlock shows a warning triangle instead of a clean lock, the certificate itself is fine — but the page is loading some resources (images, scripts, stylesheets) over plain http:// instead of https://. This is common after a domain migration or a theme/template change.

1. Open your browser's developer console (F12) and check the Console tab for Mixed Content warnings — they'll name the exact file.
2. Update any hardcoded http:// links in your site's content or theme settings to https://.
3. If you're on WordPress, a search-and-replace plugin can fix this across the whole database in one pass.

Don't just force-redirect everything to HTTPS without fixing the underlying links first — it can cause redirect loops on some setups. Fix the mixed content, then enforce HTTPS.

When to Contact Us

Get in touch if:

• The certificate shows as expired and hasn't renewed within 24 hours of you noticing.
• The warning appeared right after a nameserver or DNS change.
• You've fixed mixed content but the warning persists.
• You're not sure whether the issue is the certificate or something else.

Most SSL issues are quick, low-drama fixes — the padlock going away doesn't mean your site's been compromised, just that something needs a nudge to reconnect.