Case Study: A educational platform Improved Their Trust Score by 52 Points

The Situation

A educational platform came to TrustedWeb after noticing their website traffic had been declining for months. They suspected an SEO issue, but a security scan revealed something more concerning: their website had 5 security vulnerabilities that were actively putting their visitors at risk.

Their initial TrustedWeb trust score was 43 out of 100 — well below the average of 46.

Problems Found

Our comprehensive scan identified the following issues:

1. Expired SSL certificate with mixed content warnings
2. Outdated WordPress core version
3. Missing HSTS and Content-Security-Policy headers
4. Missing robots.txt and XML sitemap
5. Outdated WordPress plugins with known vulnerabilities

The Fix

Here’s what was done to address each issue, in order of priority:

Step 1: Update Everything (Day 1)

All WordPress plugins, themes, and core were updated to the latest versions. Two unused plugins were removed entirely. This alone closed the most dangerous vulnerability windows.

Step 2: SSL and Headers (Day 1)

A fresh SSL certificate was installed, HTTPS redirects were configured, and all six essential security headers were added to the server configuration. Mixed content issues were fixed by updating internal links.

Step 3: Admin Security (Day 2)

The default “admin” username was changed, two-factor authentication was enabled, and login attempt limiting was configured. The wp-admin URL was moved behind an additional authentication layer.

Step 4: Monitoring Setup (Day 2)

Automated security scanning was configured to run weekly, with email alerts for any new vulnerabilities or score drops.

The Results

After implementing all fixes, the website’s trust score jumped from 43 to 95 — an improvement of 52 points.

Impact After 30 Days:

• Trust score: 43 → 95
• Browser warnings: Eliminated
• Security headers: All 6 essential headers present
• Plugin vulnerabilities: Zero known issues
• Organic traffic: Began recovering within 2 weeks

Key Takeaway

Most of these fixes took less than 2 hours total. The educational platform had been losing traffic for months due to issues that could have been identified and fixed in an afternoon.

The most common reaction we hear: “I didn’t know my website had these problems.”

Check Your Website

Your website might have the same issues. Run a free scan to find out your trust score and get specific recommendations.

Note: Details have been anonymized to protect the website owner’s privacy. The security issues and improvements described are based on real scan data.