There are lots of huge benefits to having a dedicated IP address and personally we think it is worth the cost even on our own personal websites. The huge benefit is that it effectively gives you your own space with lots of good benefits. Without a dedicated IP address you are on the shared IP meaning that you are on an IP address shared by every other customer sometimes dozens of other sites that are on that IP. We'll list some reasons why you want to get a dedicated IP address.
- You will have your own private space - By default you are placed on that shared IP and you are in the shared space meaning you share some of the same risks and even the same share of performance.
- You are more secure - When you're on your own private IP it is associated with just your domain and no one else in the world. This means that the only connections coming to the IP will be meant for you.
- Better rankings with search engines - Search engines see IP addresses just like they see sites. When google sees that dickbutt.org is on the same IP as yourdomain.com it knows that neither of you are on your own location and is aware of the other issues we list here and penalize you for it. Dedicated IP users don't get this hit.
- Faster loading website - Since you're on your own IP address the server is better able to serve requests for your website since it has its own dedicated interface in the OS. This means faster loading sites compared to those on shared IP when the server is under load.
- Less chance of issues - If for some unforeseen reason the shared IP has some issue caused by some other user and the IP becomes unresponsive everyone on the shared IP will experience the same issue. People on their own dedicated IP will not.
- Protects your reputation - There are several ways it does this but there is one great example. If someone has an insecure site and gets a virus on it that will put a black mark on the IP of their website. If they are on the shared IP and you are on the shared IP then your users will sometimes also see the dreaded warnings from firefox, google, and others saying your site is dangerous!
- Avoid the issues with SNI - SNI is a technology that allows multiple sites to have an SSL certificate without the need for a dedicated IP. Most older browsers don't support SNI and even some modern browsers do not. This means that if you use an SSL on a shared IP a lot of people will see the "This site is insecure and may be dangerous" warning even though nothing is wrong.
- Far less mail is marked as spam - This is probably one of the largest benefits. Having email that doesn't get marked as spam. When you're site is on the shared IP you are judged harsher by all email clients so when you send an email it has a much higher chance of ending up in someones junk-mail instead of their inbox.
- Your own name even when doing a look-up - Normally if you look-up an IP it will tell you the site's that the IP is linked with. If you have a dedicated IP address it will show your domain and not someone else. You need to open a ticket to have us change it to your domain though. Just say "please update the PTR on my IP"
