I had many websites that were hosted on multiple Go Daddy packages, for many years. I recently left Go Daddy due to excessive downtimes (along with a myriad of other problems) and discovered that SSL certificates are a TON easier to set up on other hosting providers.
For example, say you want to set up a Let’s Encrypt certificate with your Go Daddy package. Nope. It’s not a thing. When you’re working in the SSL manager inside of Cpanel on Go Daddy, there is no option to set up a Let’s Encrypt certificate.
I noticed when I moved my hosting to Blue Host (which was far less expensive and I just prepaid for a year as opposed to paying every month), that any website I set up with them automatically obtains an SSL certificate. This is much, much easier.
How I set up SSL certificates with Go Daddy, is I had to do everything manually. Originally, I started buying certificates for around $10-$20 per year. I’d have to generate a CSR in my Cpanel with GoDaddy, then go to the SSL provider. Enter the details for the CSR, generate the cert. Don’t forget the validation / verification method. Once you verify or validate using one of the methods, like adding a txt record, you then have to come back to Cpanel. Upload your certificate, and associate it against the domain.
Setting up an SSL certificate in WordPress on Go Daddy
If you’re setting up your SSL certificate to work with WordPress on Go Daddy, you still have to go through all of the things just mentioned above. However, there’s additional steps with WordPress. You need to install a plugin in WordPress, which will do a number of things. Most importantly, it will force HTTP traffic to use HTTPS instead. This is important, because site visitors need to access the HTTPS version of your website in order for the certificate to apply.
You also need to “pass” the SSL certificate through to WordPress, from Cpanel. An SSL plugin will handle these aspects. Generally, these plugins also offer recommendations for additional steps you can implement, to help improve security.
Site Load Times are Very Slow on Go Daddy – use Cloud Flare’s SSL options
One of the main problems I ran into – and one of the reasons why I left Go Daddy – site load time is extremely slow. Go Daddy is one of the worst hosts in the industry in terms of bottle necking. This is because they load up far too many websites and hosting packages onto each physical or virtual server instance. I have noticed that my site load time was so horrible, I was losing money because site visitors would leave my site before the pages could load.
Keep in mind that the statistics have changed big time with the Internet in the last few years. Almost everyone has high speed Internet now in some form or another. If your website will not load in a few seconds, they’ll leave your site and go check the next one they find off the major search engine of their choice.
I would recommend using CloudFlare as an intermediary. This gives you the option of having a free SSL certificate, but also having CloudFlare use their services as a CDN to speed up load time.