What is a dedicated IP address?

In a shared hosting environment all customers share the same IP address. That means every website hosted on the same server uses one and the same IP address. This approach makes it possible to put far more websites on the internet than if every website had its own IP address. On top of that, IPv4 addresses are scarce, which makes heavy use expensive. Where a standalone IP address per website used to be required for a secure connection (SSL/HTTPS), a technique called Server Name Indication (SNI) now makes it possible to use an SSL certificate on a shared IP address as well. Technically, a dedicated IP address is therefore no longer required for SSL.

So why choose a dedicated IP address anyway?
A dedicated IP address offers several advantages that matter above all for the reliability, performance and growth potential of your website:

• SEO benefit: search engines such as Google take the reputation of an IP address into account. If your IP is shared with low-quality or spam-like websites, that can indirectly affect your own rankings. A dedicated IP reduces that risk.
• Reliability and independence: you no longer depend on other users on the same server. Problems such as IP blacklisting caused by another website's spam behaviour on the same shared IP can then no longer affect your site.
• Faster connections and fewer errors: in some cases a dedicated IP makes for more stable and faster connections, especially with older clients or devices that do not support SNI (properly).
• Scalability of your infrastructure: as your website or platform grows, with multiple subdomains, applications or APIs for example, a dedicated IP can simplify management. It makes implementing load balancing, firewall rules and server migrations more efficient.
• A professional impression: for companies that value maximum reliability and control, a dedicated IP address signals technical diligence — something that can contribute positively to customer trust in e-commerce or business services, for instance.