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.
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 click Install SSL before that happens, the certificate cannot be issued, because your domain does not lead to your site yet. You will see a red "Error installing SSL certificate" notification.
We already retry a couple of times while installing, so a failure 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. 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 site's Settings page and click the padlock at the left end of the Domain field to Install SSL again.
That sequence (check, wait, retry) resolves the vast majority of SSL problems.
The padlock is closed, but my domain shows a warning
If the padlock is closed (Uninstall SSL), your site has a certificate, but on a site whose domain was added a while ago it may be the one issued for the temporary address. Click the padlock to uninstall it, then click it again to install a new one. The new certificate covers your domain.
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 that step failed, the Activity list on the site's dashboard says "SSL certificate installation failed — continuing without SSL." Clicking Install SSL under Needs attention on the dashboard, once the site is ready, usually sorts it out.
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.