What is A Dedicated IP Address? | WPOven

Generally, we receive a huge number of responses in which Individuals always ask which would be the best to choose from a Dedicated IP or a Shared one. And to answer these particular questions is not as straight as you might think.

These things mainly depend on a variety of other factors. This huge confusion among individuals is mainly due to the availability of multiple vague information present on the internet. We even found the majority of users who might not need to have a dedicated IP host their website and paying expensive charges.

But before going to any conclusion, it would be better if you know what exactly Dedicated IP means, How it is different from shared IP, What are the advantages of dedicated IP over shared, and many more.

We will also try to clarify Facts regarding its effect on Search Engine Optimizations, Security, and many more. So, bear with us and keep reading. But first, let us know what an IP address means.

What is a Dedicated IP address?

From the name itself, it is clear that Dedicated IP addresses are those digital addresses that you have been assigned and have not been shared or used by any other domains. It is a unique address on the web. You can easily get one from your WordPress Hosting service provider by paying a small amount.

It is quite different from Shared IP addresses where your domain is being mapped to an address that is shared by multiple other domains. This shared IP address is quite popular among beginners and even the majority of the WordPress hosting providers are offering it in their plans.

It is because dedicated IPs are quite expensive as compared to shared IP addresses and many websites do not require a dedicated IP address at the very beginning, Once they get started getting good traffic, then it will be profitable to move to the dedicated one. However, we will get into more detail in the coming sections.

All of our WordPress hosting plans here at WPOven with dedicated IP addresses. You can find your server address after creating a Server with WPOven, you can see all its details on the ‘Manage’ page under the ‘Server’ tab. The number in front of the Host IP string in the table is your IP address.

Pros and Cons of Dedicated IP address

To better understand how Dedicated IP can be a better or Worst option over other popular IPs e.g. shared IP, let us compare between Dedicated IP and Shared IP on various parameters.

Difference Between Dedicated IP and Shared IP

From the name itself, it can be easier for you to understand how dedicated IP is different from shared IP. A shared IP address is just like any other digital address that is accessed by more than one website but has a single web server. The web server has to withstand all the load and do extra tasks for multiple websites associated with it.

Whereas, in the case of a dedicated IP address, a single website has its address and can easily access the web using either an IP address or the domain name.

1. Comparing Dedicated IP vs Shared IP on Network and Website Speed

I know, at this moment you must be confused about which would be better to pick from two available choices dedicated IP or Shared IP for your WordPress website. Well, when you search your query on the internet, you will come across a variety of posts arguing especially for the following two main reasons.

• Dedicated IPs let you access the website directly through their respective IP addresses where the domain name is directly mapped to that particular IP only.
• Through dedicated IP, it will be easier for you to get access to your web server using FTP clients.

But the truth is, neither of the above reasons turned out to be valid or strong advantages for using a dedicated IP. It is because a majority of the users do not like to access websites through their IP addresses directly and for the second reason, there is no need to access your web server using FTP clients, there are multiple easier and quicker approaches that are also available.

One thing, you must know is that shared IP is different from Shared Hosting. So, while using a shared IP, it doesn’t mean that it provides slower site performance and your website performance will not be affected by using a shared IP address.

2. Dedicated IP on SSL certificate and Security

Earlier, you need to have a dedicated IP address to obtain an SSL certificate. But things have changed now, and new technology has been introduced named SNI or Server Name Identification. With the help of this new technology, it has become possible to get an SSL certificate without having a dedicated IP address.

Now the SSL certificate will match with the server names rather than the IP address. However, you can still get an SSL certificate with a dedicated IP address but it is not mandatory now. But it can be changed depending upon one web hosting service provider to another. Some of them may make it essential requirements to have a dedicated IP for an SSL certificate and some not.

SSL certificates are one of the most essential requirements for any WordPress site especially if you are running an e-commerce website or any other website that requires users’ sensitive data. Even, when we talk about the SEO point of view, SSL-certified websites will have a higher chance of higher ranks on SERPs rather than the website that doesn’t.

In addition to that, it helps to increase the credibility of a website by not displaying a “site is not secure” message on the webpage which can create a sense that the site is not trustworthy.

3. Dedicated IP on Email marketing

When you are required to send emails in bulk or do email marketing, it is usually recommended to have a dedicated IP address. But it can be only beneficial if the sending volume of emails must be more than a hundred thousand emails per year.
In addition, we do not recommend you opt for a dedicated IP from your web hosting service provider and start sending low-volume emails, it can potentially harm you. It is because If you have a dedicated IP for sending promotional or sales emails it can affect your IP reputation as well, which is very important especially when you talk about ISP(Internet Service Provider) and delivery rates.

If you are not good at email marketing, the ISP will consider it as spam and can blacklist your IP address. And also affects your Delivery rate and your ability to reach messages to the customer’s inbox will be affected. This is the main reason, why you would be required to build a good reputation for your IP address and try to make it into a whitelist of ISPs.

So, here come the third-party email service providers come to the rescue, and provide you an alternate path to send emails in bulk without worrying about your website IP reputation. But when you use a dedicated IP provided by your web hosting provider, it will typically work like shared hosting. you will be bound to the configuration that your hosting provider has already configured for sending emails. And if something went wrong, such as if any other client is practicing bad email marketing, then there is a high chance that the IP address will get banned or blacklisted.

And you will be hopelessly waiting for the issue to be resolved. Which can ultimately delay your whole email marketing process and poor delivery rates.

So, it is highly recommended that you opt for third parties who can provide you with email marketing solutions. There are many third-party email marketing platforms available such as Sendinblue and Mailchimp which provide free services up to 10k emails per month and their premium plans are even available at cheaper rates. For more details about these third-party email marketing platforms, you can read our detailed article on Free SMTP servers for sending emails.

These third-party email marketing SAAS platforms provide you with a whole infrastructure that you will require for email services with the latest industry standards. They have dedicated team members who work 24×7 to provide a smooth experience to their customers without any glitches and ensure the IPs won’t get backlisted.

However, these third-party email marketing platforms also provide you a dedicated IP address for sending emails, but you need to pay extra for that and if you are not sending emails in bulk or huge volume, this can also affect you badly. A few poor email marketing can hurt your IP reputation as well.

Whereas, in Shared IPs, you do not need to build a reputation because the IP addresses were already warned up and ready to send high-volume emails. The shared IPs are delicately monitored 24×7 by the team members who monitor and ensure the emails just reach their destiny.

4. Dedicated IP and its effect on SEO

Now, it is time to know how Dedicated IPs can affect your SEO. Although, it has not been written or provided by Google about IPs and their effect on SEO. It can only be observed by extensive research and years of experience that we are going to share with you.
Since there are no perfect rules or guidelines have been mentioned by Google regarding SEO, it has provided some webmaster guidelines in which there is nothing mentioned about dedicated IP addresses.

To your surprise, even Google itself uses shared IP addresses to host their multiple domains. Another important thing you need to know is that even a dedicated IP will not be likely to help you out even if you use Top-notch WordPress hosting or do extensive SEO.

It is because, if you use a low-quality web host, it will not provide you with a better spam filter and will continue running compromised/hacked websites on its platform.

Similarly, when talking about email credibility and its reputation, IP can also get banned or blacklisted by ISPs. But it is not that big deal for now, because Google has become very smart and knows better that a website can be on shared web hosting in which users have no control over their shared IPs.

In addition to it, Google also understands a website can also be subjected to negative SEO attacks by spam and malware attacks and also knows better that users are now using shared IPs.

5. Can changing IPs affect your SEO?

The most sought question regarding SEO in terms of IP is, does it affect your rankings when you change your IP address?

Well, when you either change your web hosting service provider or add a security service, Google will consider it as a new IP address joined with your domain. But, when we talk about our experience of migrating hundreds of websites, it is not the main thing you should be concerned about.

This is because Google treats links that are connected with virtually hosted domains the same as the links associated with domains on dedicated IPs. In addition, all the websites that are on the same IP address are common things nowadays.

Even top-notch companies change their IP addresses continuously, if it does affect their SEO, they would not have done it.

6. Is it possible to migrate a Dedicated IP?

Now the other most common question arises in the majority of people if they migrate a dedicated IP. Well in short the answer is No. This is because it is not possible to have two different web hosting services for a single domain name. When you migrate your domain name or website from one web hosting server to another, the IP address changes. Some VPN services provide a premium feature in which they offer static IP or dedicated IP addresses

So if you have a dedicated IP address, you won’t be able to migrate to another web-hosting provider, or else you will be required to have a new IP address instead. However, things might be a little different for shared hosting with a dedicated IP, which is still a bad option. Which we will cover in upcoming posts.

7. Dedicated IP: Is it pricey?

Now the last and most important thing to consider is Dedicated IP pricing. Well, the whole plans and pricing of dedicated as well as shared IPs can vary from one web hosting provider to another and for how long you are going to enjoy this service.

Generally, dedicated IPs come with expensive plans as compared to shared IPs and on average it can cost you around $4 to $100 per month. This pricing solely depends on the plan, features, services, and add-ons you opt for.

Another thing you must keep in mind is that buying a dedicated IP as an additional feature with shared hosting would be not the same as buying a dedicated web hosting service.

Similarly, you can buy a shared IP plan on dedicated hosting. At WPOven, in our all plans, we offer only a dedicated Virtual Private Server with dedicated IPs by default. For more queries related to add-ons, features, and other benefits you can visit our WPOVen plans and Features page or contact our team directly.

You cannot simply make a conclusion on which will be better between a Dedicated IP or shared, by simply comparing their prices. There are a lot of other parameters you need to follow such as what are the add-ons you will get, the reputation of Web hosting services, and for what time duration.

Summary

There have been a lot of misconceptions and poor information about dedicated IPs has been circulating the internet for quite a long time. But after reading this post, I hope it will help you to build a strong and basic concept about dedicated IP and rule out all the vague information.

Let us summarize in brief:

• The network and website speed does have an advantage for using dedicated IPs however, it doesn’t mean that shared IPs slow the website.
• Shared Hosting and Shared ID are two different things, and you must not get confused between the two.
• There is no effect on website Security whether you use a dedicated IP or a shared one. A new technology named SNI has been introduced and hosts now let you upload your own SSL certificates.
• Dedicated IP has the advantage of sending bulk emails and building your reputation, But we highly do not recommend you use dedicated IPs for email marketing rather use third-party email marketing platforms.
• You do not need to worry about SEO unless you are using a Reputated Web hosting service.
• It is not possible to migrate your Dedicated IP between two web hosts but you can change your IP address and it will not affect your website in any case.
• The Price of Dedicated IPs will vary from one web host to another depending upon the plan, features, add-ons, and for how long service you need.

If you like to add more points or if we missed mentioning some more worthy points, please do let us know in the comment section below, we love to hear from you guys!

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