SSL Certificate FAQ - VeriSign Trust Seal – E-commerce Security from VeriSign Singapore

Questions:

Answers:

What is the VeriSign Trust™ Seal?
The VeriSign Trust Seal is a dynamic, animated graphic that displays on Web pages secured by VeriSign SSL Certificates and Web sites authenticated by VeriSign. When users click the VeriSign seal, it opens a VeriSign-generated verification page containing information about your organisation, the status of your malware scan, and SSL Certificate details (if you are an SSL customer). The VeriSign seal, the most recognised trust mark on the Internet, is viewed up to 250 million times a day on more than 90,000 Web sites in 160 countries and in search results on enabled browsers as well as partner shopping sites and product review pages.

Back to Top

How do I add the VeriSign Trust Seal to my Web site?
The VeriSign Trust Seal is available free with the purchase of any VeriSign SSL Certificate. It may also be purchased separately for Web sites that do not require SSL for securing online transactions.

Purchase and install a VeriSign® SSL Certificate or purchase a VeriSign Trust Seal.
Go to the VeriSign Seal Installation Agreement.
Create your seal script.
Copy and paste it onto your Web pages.
Check your Web pages to make sure the VeriSign seal displays correctly.

Do I need an SSL Certificate to display the VeriSign Trust Seal?
A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate is the standard security requirement for e-commerce and other transactions online. An SSL Certificate combines encryption to protect information as it travels the Internet and identity information about the certificate owner to protect against fraud. If you collect sensitive information or conduct transactions on your Web site, you need an SSL Certificate. If you do not handle transactions on your Web site or your shopping basket, or payment service is hosted by a 3rd party provider, you can purchase a VeriSign Trust Seal without an SSL Certificate. Need help deciding? The VeriSign Seal

Note that if your Web site uses SSL, you must use VeriSign SSL in order to display the VeriSign Trust Seal.

Back to Top

What is the difference between the VeriSign Secured® Seal and the VeriSign Trust Seal?
The VeriSign Trust Seal is an enhanced version of the established and highly trusted VeriSign Secured Seal. Like the VeriSign Secured Seal, the VeriSign Trust Seal shows that a site is authenticated by the high standards of VeriSign. However, the VeriSign Trust Seal provides additional information in more places to help assure your customers that your site is safe from search to browse to buy:

VeriSign® Seal-in-Search™ increases the visibility of your site in search results on enabled browsers, shopping sites, and product review Web pages. VeriSign Seal-in-Search: How It Works
The VeriSign Trust Seal also shows that your site passed a daily Web site scan for malicious code to help protect your customers' computers from infection. FAQ: Web Site Malware Scanning

What is VeriSign Seal-in-Search?
Seal-in-Search is a new feature of all VeriSign SSL Certificates. Seal-in-Search displays the VeriSign Trust Seal next to trusted links in search results. Seal-in-Search offers visual differentiation to help your link stand out from the competition and assure customers that your site is safe from search to browse to buy. Seal-in-Search: How It Works

Back to Top

Why is it important to display the VeriSign Trust Seal on my Web site?
The VeriSign Trust Seal is an indispensable tool in your effort to improve your customers' perception of safety and trust when they do business online. Displaying the seal on your Web site can help reassure visitors. When customers feel secure, they are more likely to convert from visitors to customers and less likely to abandon their shopping basket. In a recent study, 11% of respondents decided not to conduct business with a site because they did not see the VeriSign seal (VeriSign Brand Tracking Research, 2009).

Back to Top

Can the VeriSign Trust Seal help increase my online sales?
Yes. Customer case studies have shown an average increase in transactions of 24% (ranging between 10% - 36%) when the VeriSign seal was displayed. To maximise click-through to your shopping basket, show customers that they can trust the link, trust the site, and trust the transaction with the VeriSign seal present at all stages of the buy process.

Back to Top

Can the VeriSign Trust Seal help increase traffic from search engines?
One of your biggest challenges is standing out in search so that potential visitors click your link to see all that you have to offer. The VeriSign Trust Seal includes Seal-in-Search, a feature that displays the VeriSign Trust Seal next to your link in search results. A daily Web site malware scan helps mitigate the risk of becoming blacklisted by search engines. No matter how much search optimisation and advertising you do, if your site is blacklisted, it may be blocked entirely or flagged with a security alert to discourage click-through. In addition, anti-virus plug-ins to popular browsers can detect malware and block access to infected sites.

Back to Top

What is malware?
Malware is a general term for malicious code installed on your Web site without your consent. Hackers exploit a security weakness to inject the code into your Web site and use it to spread viruses, hijack computers or steal sensitive data such as credit card numbers or other personal information. Malware is not easily detected and may infect customers' computers when they simply browse your Web site. FAQ: Web Site Malware Scanning

Back to Top

What does blacklisted mean?
No matter how much search optimisation and advertising you do, if your site is blacklisted, it may be blocked entirely or flagged with a security alert to discourage click-through. In addition, anti-virus plug-ins to popular browsers can detect malware and block access to infected sites.

Back to Top

How much does the VeriSign Trust Seal cost?
VeriSign Trust Seal features are included at no additional charge with your VeriSign SSL Certificate purchase. If you do not handle transactions on your Web site or your payment service is hosted by a 3rd party provider, you can purchase a VeriSign Trust Seal individually, or with multi-year discounts.

Back to Top

How quickly will the VeriSign Trust Seal display on my site?
Installing the seal takes just a few minutes. Once the pages have been published, your SSL Certificate has been authenticated and your Web site has passed a malware scan, the seal may take up to 2 hours to display. If this is the first time you have installed the seal using a particular common name, please allow up to 24 hours for the seal to display.

Why does the VeriSign Secured Seal display instead?
The VeriSign Secured Seal displays when a successful Web site malware scan is not available. The successful scan may not be available because you deactivated malware scanning in the VeriSign Trust Centre or because malicious code was detected on your site. To switch from the VeriSign Secured Seal to the VeriSign Trust Seal, sign in to your account and click the Trust Seal Services tab. Review your malware scanning status to ensure that it is activated. If malicious code has been detected, you will find a list of compromised URLs with the code that needs to be deleted. FAQ: Web Site Malware Scanning.

Back to Top

Do I need to reinstall the seal after renewing my SSL Certificate?
No. You only need to install the VeriSign seal once. The validity period will be updated on the seal pop-up window automatically.

Back to Top

Why did the text on my VeriSign Secured Seal change to "trusted"?
Active VeriSign SSL Certificates have been upgraded to the VeriSign Trust Seal (the seal that says "VeriSign Trusted"). As soon as your Web site passes the VeriSign Web site malware scan, the VeriSign seal automatically displays as the VeriSign Trust Seal. If you opt out of malware scanning or fail the scan, the VeriSign Secured Seal will display. If your seal has not switched to the VeriSign Trust Seal, sign in to the VeriSign Trust Centre to review your settings under the Trust Seal Services tab.

Back to Top

Why should I install the animated version of the seal?
Flash content animates the seal, making it more visible to site visitors and more valuable to you. However, if your Web site does not support Flash content, you can select a non-Flash version of the seal during the installation process.

Back to Top

Where should I display the VeriSign Trust Seal on my Web site?
Display the seal on any Web page within the domain secured by your VeriSign SSL Certificate or under the hostname listed in your VeriSign Trust Seal enrolment. VeriSign recommends that you insert the seal where site visitors look for proof of security and authenticity:

Your home page
The footer of interior pages
Shopping trolley/basket and checkout pages
Pre-payment pages
Log-in screens and on secure application pages
On pages that display security or privacy policy information
Next to checkout or submit buttons

To make sure you get maximum benefit from the VeriSign Trust Seal, read our Data Sheet on Seal Positioning .

Back to Top

Why isn't there a time and date stamp or organisation name on the VeriSign Trust Seal?
VeriSign conducted extensive market testing of trust marks with close to 1,000 participants across four continents. We determined that Web site visitors prefer a clean, simple seal design with maximum recognition.. Date, time, organisation name and additional trust and security information appear on the seal verification page.

Back to Top

Can I customise the VeriSign Trust Seal?
Do not modify the VeriSign Trust Seal in any way. The seal is a widely recognised symbol of your Web site's authenticity and security. Any change violates the terms and conditions of the VeriSign seal licence agreement and diminishes its value to you.

Back to Top

What should I do if I discover misuse of a seal?
VeriSign actively monitors the Web for misuse of the VeriSign seal. If you encounter a VeriSign seal that is used incorrectly, please report it to VeriSign via the Report Seal Misuse form. Misuse might include:

A site that does not employ an appropriate VeriSign service
Mismatched information on the seal verification page
Missing information pop-up when the seal is clicked
A modified seal
A seal used in phishing or illegal activities

VeriSign is not responsible for content on a Web site on which a VeriSign seal is displayed.

Back to Top

FAQ: VeriSign Seal