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How to Install a Wildcard SSL Certificate on Your WordPress Site

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. Having an SSL certificate installed on your WordPress site is no longer optional. It is necessary to install it so that you can protect your site and ensure all the data is encrypted and served via an HTTPS connection. A Wildcard SSL allows you to protect several subdomains with just one certificate. A wildcard SSL certificate can function with any subdomain of the base domain it is provided for. For instance, if your domain name is “yourwebsite.com”, your wildcard certificate would likewise secure “subsite.yourwebsite.com” and “subsite2.yourwebsite.com”. 

As with most single-name certificates, wildcard SSL certificates encrypt data employing a bunch of keys. This incorporates a public key that is put away on the digital certificate and a private key that is kept on your server. Nonetheless, with a wildcard certificate, you can copy the private key and transfer it to however many servers as you wish. Therefore, you must know how to install a Wildcard SSL Certificate on your WordPress site. Let’s see the steps to do it successfully.

Installing a Wildcard SSL Certificate

Suppose you conclude that wildcard SSL is your most ideal alternative, the following stage is to purchase and install it on your WordPress site. The cycle for installing an SSL certificate may fluctuate somewhat, contingent upon your host and server type. 

For instance, some hosting plans don’t uphold wildcard SSL certificates, or just offer them as a premium choice. Essentially, the steps associated with the installation interaction may appear to be unique relying upon the control panel and interface of your web host. Notwithstanding, the steps included are generally the equivalent. We should investigate how to install a wildcard SSL certificate on your WordPress site in some simple steps!

  • Purchase Your Wildcard SSL Certificate 

The initial step is to purchase your SSL certificate. As you probably are aware, there is an assortment of SSL suppliers to look over that offer wildcard certificates. The best arrangement will rely generally upon your particular necessities and budget. At the point when you purchase an SSL certificate, you’ll be approached to show the sort of server your site is hosted on. You can choose “Nginx” if that is accessible as an alternative. Nonetheless, “Apache” or “Other” will likewise work.

  • Create a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) Code and Private Key 

The subsequent stage is to produce a CSR code, which is needed by the SSL supplier to make and sign the certificate document. To create a CSR code and private key, you can finish the Online CSR and Key Generator structure on SSL.com. Fill in the following fields. 

  • Common Name (Domain Name)
  • Email Address
  • Organization
  • City / Locality
  • State / County / Region
  • Country

Since you are creating a wildcard SSL certificate, for the “Common name” field, make a point to add an asterisk before your domain name (“*.yourdomain.com”). At the point when you’re set, click on the Generate button at the lower part of the screen. A private key document and CSR will be consequently generated. You can choose Download Private Key and Copy CSR to save this information. Not exclusively will you need them in the subsequent stage; however, your SSL certificate is unusable without them. At that point, get back to your SSL provider and transfer your CSR. This will regenerate your SSL certificate (.cert) record.

  • Upload The Private Key and Certificate Files to Your Server 

The following step is to upload your CSR and private key files to your server. Then, under the SSL certificate, click on the Enable HTTPS drop-down menu and select Add custom SSL certificate. Inside the window that opens, click on the Next button. At that point, in the proper fields, add your private key and certificate information. Note that if you need to add your middle certificate also, you can do as such. Contingent upon which SSL provider you utilized, they may have mailed you a .crt file and a .ca-pack file. Suppose you don’t have a moderate certificate or understand what it is, you can utilize an instrument like What’s My Chain Cert to generate it. 

You can utilize a text editor like Notepad to open these files. At that point, you can copy and glue the contents of your .crt file in the Certificate area first, trailed by the contents of the .ca-pack file beneath it. Whenever you’re done, click on the Add Certificate button. As we referenced, the interaction for transferring your private key and certificate files will change contingent upon your host. Suppose your host utilizes cPanel/WHM, you can add this information under SSL/TLS.

  • Affirm That the Wildcard SSL Certification Installation Was Successful 

If you painstakingly executed the previously mentioned steps, you should now have a wildcard SSL certificate effectively installed on your WordPress site. Notwithstanding, to affirm that everything went as it ought to, you should utilize the SSL Checker tool by About SSL. On this page, just enter the URL of your WordPress site, and afterward, click on the Check button. Information about your SSL certificate will naturally show on the screen. This will assist you with affirming whether yours was appropriately installed. If all looks well, that is it! You’ve currently installed a wildcard SSL certificate. After installing the SSL certificate, we suggest running a search and supplant on your site’s database to trade out HTTP URLs for HTTPS ones.

Presto! Your WordPress site presently has a Wildcard SSL certificate installed on your WordPress site. Bid farewell to negative visual indicators and browser warnings and hi to connection security.