You’ve been considering getting a Namecheap SSL Certificate but aren’t sure which one is right for you. Although it can seem complicated at first, once you get used to the terminology, choosing an SSL will be very simple. There are only a few things you should consider. These are:
What kind of site do you want?
How many subdomains and domains do you own?
These two factors will determine the type of SSL that you receive. Let’s look at them.
Validation levels
You’ve likely noticed that SSL sites come with different validation levels if you have spent any time using them. These levels include Domain Validation, Organization Validation (OV), or extended validation (EV). It may sound complicated but this boils down to the effort required by the Certificate Authority (CA), to verify your existence and give you SSL. Let’s take a look at each:
DV: The lowest level of validation. The CA will verify that you have administrator access to the site.
OV: Medium validation. The CA will perform some company verification.
EV: The highest level of validation. The CA can cross-check your government records or verify your company premises.
How do you determine which validation level is required? The higher the level of interaction on your site, generally speaking, the better. If you have login pages or forms, an OV or EV may be right for you. A DV will work well for a blog or informational website.
This information is mainly for customer security. If you don’t know this, you can click the padlock symbol on the browser address bar to find out more about the SSL certificate of a site. If you find an unknown e-commerce shop, you can check the SSL information to verify that it is legitimate. They’ll be more inclined to complete a transaction if they can see a company that is verified.
Numbers of sites
Based on how many domains or subdomains you own, there are three types of SSL. These are:
SSL for one domain: This SSL is best if you only have one domain and don’t plan to add any more.
Multi-domain SSL: This SSL is capable of protecting up to 3100 domains and their subdomains.
Wildcard SSL: This type protects one primary domain as well as unlimited subdomains that are single-level. If your site is example.com, you can create subdomains like *.example.com.
This part of selecting an SSL is more straightforward. Count your domains and subdomains. Now think about whether or not you would like to create more.
Conclusion
Although SSL terminology can seem confusing at first glance, it is actually quite simple. You can quickly find the right one by counting domains and subdomains, and looking at their functionality.
