Comodo Essential SSL WildCard

The Comodo Essential SSL WildCard is a single certificate that secures one domain plus every subdomain beneath it, with no per-subdomain charge and no paperwork to complete. It is a domain-validated (DV) wildcard, which means it is issued quickly and is a practical fit for operators who spin up many hostnames on the same domain, such as blog., shop., app. or client subdomains across a network.

Specifications at a glance

• Validation type: Domain (no paperwork). You prove control of the domain, not the identity of a company, so there is nothing to sign or post.
• Subdomains: Unlimited. One wildcard covers every subdomain of the secured domain.
• Green address bar: N/A. That green company-name bar was only ever an Extended Validation (EV) feature, and modern browsers no longer display it, so its absence changes nothing about the padlock your visitors see.
• Reissue: Unlimited, at no extra cost, for the life of the certificate.
• Issuance: Typically 1 to 10 minutes once domain control is confirmed.
• Warranty: $10,000.
• Site seal: Your domain and its subdomains can display the static Comodo site seal.
• Encryption: Standard 128-bit and 256-bit encryption for your website and its subdomains.
• Browser compatibility: 99+% compatibility with all major browsers.
• Mobile: Fully mobile compatible.
• Money-back guarantee: 15 days.

What "wildcard" actually means

A wildcard certificate is issued for a name written as *.example.com. The asterisk stands in for any single subdomain label, so www.example.com, blog.example.com and shop.example.com are all covered by the one certificate. This is what "unlimited subdomains" refers to: you never have to buy or install a separate certificate each time you add a new subdomain.

One point worth knowing: a standard wildcard covers the direct subdomains of your domain and the bare domain itself, but it does not automatically cover a deeper level such as staging.app.example.com. That deeper name is a subdomain of a subdomain, and would need its own coverage.

Who this certificate suits

If you run one brand on a single domain but split it across several subdomains, a wildcard is usually cheaper and far less fiddly than buying one certificate per hostname. It is a natural match for agencies and multi-site operators who put client areas, staging areas or micro-sites on subdomains of a main property. If, on the other hand, your sites live on separate root domains, a wildcard for one of them will not cover the others, and you would look at a certificate per domain instead. You can see the full range and pricing on our SSL certificates page, and browse related questions in the SSL certificates FAQ.

An honest note on SSL and rankings

HTTPS is a lightweight, confirmed Google ranking signal, but the practical reason to install a certificate is trust and function, not SEO leverage. Without a valid certificate, browsers show a "Not secure" warning that scares visitors away, and features that require a secure context simply will not run. Installing this wildcard removes that warning; it will not, on its own, lift your position in search results. If you host a network on dedicated IPs, the certificate secures each site the same way it would any other, and the footprint benefits of your setup come from the IP separation, not from the SSL. For the technical side of getting encryption configured well, Mozilla publishes a widely used reference at ssl-config.mozilla.org.

Getting started

Because validation is domain-only, issuance is fast: once you confirm control of the domain, the certificate is normally ready in 1 to 10 minutes, and you can reissue it as often as you need at no extra charge. If you are unsure whether a single wildcard, several single-domain certificates, or a multi-domain option fits your setup best, our team can point you to the right one, just get in touch through our contact page. The 15-day money-back guarantee gives you room to confirm everything installs cleanly on your sites first.