An SSL certificate encrypts traffic between your visitors and your website and switches your address to HTTPS with the padlock browsers display for secure connections. It stopped being optional years ago: Chrome labels plain HTTP pages "Not secure", and Google confirmed as far back as 2014 that HTTPS acts as a ranking signal in search. Whatever the site — webshop, booking form, or a simple brochure page with a contact form — the certificate is now part of the cost of being taken seriously online.
GoDaddy-issued certificates come in levels matched to different needs. Domain Validated (DV) certificates verify control of the domain and issue quickly, making them the right fit for blogs, portfolios, and most SME sites. Organization Validated (OV) certificates add vetting of the legal business entity, displaying verified company details in the certificate — worth the extra process for firms handling customer data or serving corporate clients. Wildcard options secure a domain plus all its subdomains under a single certificate, which agencies and SaaS-style setups appreciate, and multi-domain (SAN) certificates cover several distinct names at once.
All of them use industry-standard SHA-2 encryption with 2048-bit keys and are trusted by every major browser, and none of them are tied to GoDaddy hosting — you can install a certificate on any server, anywhere.
Buying SSL through ATCOS Domains puts certificate expiry on the same renewal calendar as your domains and hosting, which matters because an expired certificate takes a site from trusted to alarming error page overnight.
What's included
- Domain Validated (DV) certificates for fast, affordable encryption on blogs and small business sites
- Organization Validated (OV) certificates that embed vetted company identity for stronger customer confidence
- Wildcard certificates securing your main domain and unlimited subdomains under one certificate
- Multi-domain (SAN) certificates covering several distinct websites with a single purchase and renewal
- SHA-2 encryption with 2048-bit keys, recognised and trusted by all major browsers and devices
- Installable on any server or host — GoDaddy hosting is supported but never required
Built for businesses like yours
- A Cape Town online shop encrypts its checkout so customers see the padlock before entering card details, protecting conversion at the payment step.
- A Nigerian professional services firm chooses OV validation so corporate clients can verify the company behind the website during due diligence.
- A London agency puts a wildcard certificate on its infrastructure to secure client staging subdomains without buying certificates one at a time.
- A Dutch SaaS founder covers app, docs, and marketing subdomains with one wildcard, simplifying renewals to a single annual event.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to get an SSL certificate issued?
Domain Validated certificates typically issue within minutes to a few hours once you complete the domain-control check, which is usually a DNS record or email confirmation. Organization Validated certificates take longer — commonly a few business days — because the certificate authority verifies your legal business registration and details. Start OV applications well before any launch deadline.
Do I need SSL if I don't sell anything on my site?
Yes, in practice. Browsers flag unencrypted pages as Not secure regardless of whether payments happen, which erodes visitor trust immediately, and search engines give HTTPS pages a modest ranking preference. Any contact form, login, or newsletter signup also transmits personal data that should be encrypted. A basic DV certificate resolves all of this at minimal cost.
What is the difference between a wildcard and a standard certificate?
A standard certificate secures one hostname, such as www.example.com. A wildcard secures the domain and every first-level subdomain — shop.example.com, mail.example.com, staging.example.com — under one certificate and one renewal. If you run or plan multiple subdomains, the wildcard is usually cheaper and far easier to manage than accumulating individual certificates.
What happens when my certificate expires?
Browsers immediately show visitors a full-page security warning instead of your website, and most people will not click past it — effectively your site goes dark until you renew and reinstall. Certificates have fixed maximum lifetimes under current industry rules, so expiry is routine and predictable. Enable auto-renewal or diarise the date well in advance to avoid an outage.