"Recently, I visited the Cloudflare forums and learned that obtaining an SSL certificate is crucial, even when using Cloudflare to secure your website with a free SSL certificate or HTTPS padlock. I rely on Cloudflare for all my websites. Will having a proper SSL certificate in addition to Cloudflare's services benefit my website's SEO and ensure that Google views my domain as securely protected?"
Having a proper SSL certificate in addition to Cloudflare’s free SSL certificate is generally not necessary for SEO purposes. While Cloudflare’s free SSL certificate does not provide the highest level of security, it is sufficient for most websites and is recognized by Google as secure.