What does a dedicated IP do?

In most cases website owners do not pay attention to the IP their site uses. Google has made it clear that there is no marketing benefit to a dedicated IP. So if a dedicated IP does not help SEO what benefits does a dedicated IP have? Actually there is still a few. I will go over each one so you can decide if that extra $2 a month is worth it.

First let explain the two options when it comes to your website’s IP address.
  1. Shared IP: Most websites here at Web Host Pro and on the web use a shared IP. A shared IP is when several websites use the same IP. In most cases using a shared IP is exactly the same as a dedicated IP.
  2. Dedicated IP: Dedicated IP is when a website has it’s own address. This allows you to see the site with the domain and also with the number it resolves to.
Now let’s talk about the key factors of a website and if the dedicated IP helps it.
  • Performance: A dedicated IP has no effect on performance.
  • Security: A dedicated does not make your site any more secure unless you use to get a SSL certificate.
  • SEO: A dedicated IP does not help your SEO.
  • eCommerce: A dedicated does allow you to add a SSL certificate which is used to take payments online.
  • eMail: A dedicated IP does help your chances of eMail being received by free services that have heavy filters.
  • Web design: A dedicated IP can help speed up FTP which could save some time when making website updates. You would just use the IP in place of the domain name in your FTP client to do this.
  • Private information: A dedicated will allow you to get a SSL certificate which will allow you to have private forms.

So all in all, if you are running an eCommerce site that needs to take credit cards or you need to send private information through your website, than a dedicated IP is needed. Also if you have important eMail that needs to be secured or you want a better chance of a 100% send rate, than a dedicated IP is a good option.

Other than that don’t bother wasting the extra two dollars a month. Save it up, unplug, and grab a cup of fancy java in your near-by coffee shop.