An SSL certificate is what puts the padlock in your visitors' browsers, and most of the time it installs without you thinking about it. When it does not, the cause is almost always the same thing: your domain name is not pointing at your site yet. The good news is that this fixes itself with a little patience.
The most common cause: DNS is not ready
Before we can issue a certificate for your own domain, the internet needs to know that your domain belongs to your site. That is what the CNAME record does. You create it at your DNS provider (wherever you manage your domain), and it points your domain to the site's temporary address shown on the Settings page.
Here is the catch: DNS changes do not take effect instantly. They can take anywhere from a few minutes to a day or two to spread around the world. If you press Install SSL before that happens, the certificate cannot be issued, because your domain does not lead to your site yet.
The system already retries on its own during installation, so if it reports a failure, it usually means your DNS truly is not ready rather than a passing glitch.
What to do
- Double-check the CNAME record at your DNS provider. Make sure it points your domain to the site's temporary address exactly as shown on the Settings page. Our custom domains guide walks through this step by step.
- Wait a while. An online DNS checker can show you whether your change has spread yet.
- Once the checker shows your domain pointing to the right place, go back to the Settings page and press Install SSL again.
📷 Screenshot: The site's Settings page with the Install SSL button and the temporary address visible.
That sequence (check, wait, retry) resolves the vast majority of SSL problems.
SSL on your temporary address
Sites on their temporary address get a certificate automatically while the site is being set up, so normally there is nothing for you to do. If the activity feed shows that this step failed, clicking Install SSL on the Settings page once usually sorts it out.
📷 Screenshot: The activity feed showing the SSL installation step for a new site.
Still stuck?
If your DNS checker shows the domain pointing to the right place, you have waited a day or two, and Install SSL still fails, we would like to take a look. Open a support ticket and mention the site name and the domain you are trying to secure.
For more background on how certificates work here, see SSL certificates.