The most significant benefit involves not sharing an IP address with potential email spammers, who are frequently blacklisted by mail servers.
Definition
An IP address is a virtual web address not entirely unlike the address of a house. Just as multiple people can share one house address, multiple entities can share the same IP address.
By contrast, the owner of a dedicated IP address has exclusive use of and control over that address. Before the arrival of SNI, a dedicated IP address was necessary to acquire SSL certificates, but this is no longer the case.
Benefits
Dedicated IP addresses have one major benefit. If you are sharing an IP address with another user, and that user engages in spamming practices and ends up on a blacklist, your site is likewise blacklisted. If you send emails from your domain to other users, this means the blacklisting mail server will block all incoming email from your store. Therefore, those using dedicated IP addresses are in sole control of their reputation and need not concern themselves with the actions of other users, even if they share a server with other users.
The use of a dedicated IP address can also improve compatibility with some older browsers and uncommon applications that do not support SNI. This generally proves more significant for stores targeting a broad international market.
It is indeed possible to use dedicated IP addresses in a shared server environment, and all of our shared Magento hosting plans include a dedicated IP address.
Frequently asked questions
Will a dedicated IP address make my site faster?
No. This is a common misconception.
Will a dedicated IP address help my Google ranking?
No.
Will a dedicated IP address help with search engine optimization (SEO)?
No.
OK. So why bother with a dedicated IP address?
When a mail server blacklists an IP address, it does not discriminate between different users sharing that IP address. Therefore, if you share a server with another user, and that user spams email addresses to the point of being blacklisted, you are also blacklisted by that mail server. Using a dedicated IP address avoids this scenario.
Does Nexcess offer dedicated IP addresses on shared hosting plans?
Yes, we include one dedicated IP address on shared Magento hosting plans at no additional cost. The availability of dedicated IP addresses on other plans will vary according to several other factors. For details, contact our Sales Team, available Monday to Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. eastern time (ET).
For 24-hour assistance any day of the year, contact our support team by email or through your Client Portal.
