For many, SSL certificates appear incredibly complicated at first glance. What are all those different types, and what do they mean? Fortunately, it’s pretty easy once you know what to look for. By familiarizing yourself with the content of this article, you’ll know the best fit for you in no time.
Let’s go.
1. Cost of an SSL certificate
One of the first things that can confuse people who want to get an SSL is price. Prices can range from incredibly cheap to sky-high. What’s that about? Is SSL something you should expect to spend more on for a better quality product? Fortunately, no. Whatever price you pay, all SSLs on the market today are basically the same product with the same level of encryption. So don’t pay more when you really don’t have to. Choose where to buy your SSL based on the quality of the store rather than the price.
Read reviews to get a good idea of how other people like it.
2. Your website type
The next thing to influence your decision is what kind of website you have. Do you have a simple blog site or a huge e-commerce empire that consists of several domains or subdomains? That will make a difference. So choosing an SSL depends on how many sites you have and how interactive it is. For the number of sites, your choices are:
- Single domain SSL
- Multi-domain SSL
- Wildcard SSL
They’re all pretty self-explanatory except for the last. A wildcard secures one primary domain and unlimited subdomains linked to it.
Regarding your website type, you must choose the ideal validation level. Validation is how much an issuing certificate authority (CA) verifies you or your company before sending your SSL. The basic rule of thumb is the more your user is expected to do on your site (for example, make a purchase, or share personal information), the higher the validation level you should get. In order of most basic to most extensive, the three validation levels are:
- Domain validation (DV)
- Organization validation (OV)
- Extended validation (EV)
In practice, if you have multiple e-commerce sites you should choose a multi-domain SSL with either OV or EV validation.
3. Issuing CA
Before committing to an SSL, ensure the issuing CA is trustworthy. Trust plays a huge role in the SSL ecosystem, and if a CA has been involved in any dodgy dealings, they’ll be penalized for it. Major web browsers won’t recognize them, which is the worst thing that can happen. If you go to the trouble of buying an SSL from an untrusted CA it basically won’t work. Web browsers will declare your site “not secure” to attempted visitors, and you’ll have to fork out cash for another new SSL.
Avoid this by researching CAs before you buy.
