How to use a free SSL with Bluehost hosting

Abhinay Kumar
WordPress
June 18, 2022

An SSL certificate is required for a secure HTTPS connection. A valid SSL certificate is required for establishing a secure connection between the client and the origin server. An SSL or TLS as it is commonly called enables an HTTPS connection for a website. So an SSL certificate is essential to have. It has its SEO advantage. Many hosting companies offer free SSL. Bluehost also offers a free SSL certificate. We will see in this post what is an SSL certificate and how to use a free SSL with Bluehost hosting.

What is an SSL certificate?

An SSL certificate is a way to verify the identity of the origin server and establish a secure connection for any further communication. The SSL certificate contains the information of the domain that it was issued for, the organization it was issued to, the issuing authority and its digital signature, associated subdomains, the issue date and expiry date of the certificate, and the public key. When a client connects with the origin server, it verifies the origin server’s security certificate with the issuing authority. It then establishes a connection using the public key by sending an encrypted message to the server. The server decrypts it using its private key and sends the response to the server. SSL certificates are issued for single domains, multiple domains as well as wildcard certificates for a domain having subdomains. For installing an SSL certificate on your server you got to connect to your hosting service provider. In most cases, the hosting service provider renews your SSL certificate in a timely way.

Please refer Types of SSL certificates as below,

For details on types of certificates.

In my case, Bluehost offers a free SSL certificate which is renewed and enabled by itself by the Bluehost.
However, you can manually toggle it on or off from Bluehost CPanel.Let us see how to do it.

1. Open CPanel of your Bluehost hosting provider.
2. Click on My Sites.
3. Click on Manage site.
4. Click on Security.
You can switch your SSL certificate on and off from here.

However, there is a catch to it. If your site was previously on HTTP and now you have enabled and installed an SSL certificate. You need to redirect your HTTP connection to HTTPS. This can be done either by using a plugin or from Bluehost CPanel itself.Let us see how to do it from Bluehost CPanel.

1. Open CPanel of your Bluehost hosting provider.

2. Click on My Sites.

3. Click on Manage site.

4. Click on Security.

You can enforce HTTPS from here.You can set it on and off from here.

Also this can be done using a plugin Really Simple SSL.

Really Simple SSL.

How to install third-party SSL certificates
If you require a higher level of security,you can get a higher level SSL certificate from SSL.com.This can be upgraded from Bluehost marketplace section in CPanel.It can be purchased from here from addons section.You have to then install it from the security tab in CPanel.Here go to SSL/TLS tab and you can upload and install from here. Click on Generate/Upload/View/Delete SSL certificate and upload the new one.