The GeoTrust True BusinessID Wildcard is an organisation-validated (OV) SSL certificate that secures a domain and an unlimited number of its subdomains under a single wildcard certificate. It is aimed at businesses that run several services on one domain, for example a shop, a blog, a client login and a staging area, and want them all covered and vetted without buying a separate certificate for each host.
Specifications at a glance
- Validation type: Organisation Validation (OV). GeoTrust verifies that your business is a real, registered entity before issuing.
- Subdomains: Unlimited. One wildcard secures every subdomain of the covered domain.
- Green address bar: N/A. OV certificates do not display the extended-validation company name in the address bar.
- Reissue: Unlimited, for the life of the certificate.
- Issuance: 1 to 3 days, because the organisation details are checked by hand.
- Warranty: $1,250,000.
- Site seal: Dynamic Smart Site Seal.
- Encryption: High 256-bit encryption, signed with a 2048-bit root.
- Browser compatibility: 99.9%.
- Mobile compatibility: Excellent.
- Money-back guarantee: 15-day.
What "wildcard" actually means
A wildcard certificate is issued for a name such as *.example.com. The asterisk stands in for any single subdomain label, so the same certificate secures www.example.com, shop.example.com, blog.example.com, mail.example.com and any others you add later, with no extra issuance step. This is the practical difference between a wildcard and a standard single-name certificate: you provision once and every current and future first-level subdomain is covered.
*.example.com one wildcard certificate www shop blog mail Unlimited first-level subdomains, secured and reissuableOV versus DV, and where the green bar went
This certificate is organisation-validated, which sits a step above the domain-validated (DV) certificates that only confirm you control the domain. With OV, GeoTrust checks that your company is a genuine registered organisation, which is why issuance takes one to three days rather than minutes. That vetting is the reason a business might choose OV: visitors who inspect the certificate can see the verified organisation name behind the site. OV certificates do not turn the address bar green; that treatment was reserved for extended-validation (EV) certificates, and modern browsers have largely retired the green-bar UI in any case. The lock icon and the certificate details are what your visitors see today.
Why the wildcard suits multi-site and network operators
If you run many properties, consolidating subdomain coverage under one wildcard cuts down on renewal dates to track and certificates to reissue. It is worth being clear about one thing: an SSL certificate is not a search ranking boost of any meaningful size. HTTPS is expected baseline hygiene rather than a lever that lifts positions. The real value here is operational, fewer moving parts, a verified organisation identity, unlimited reissues if a key is ever compromised, and a large $1,250,000 warranty backing the certificate. For the footprint and IP-diversity side of running multiple sites, that is handled by your hosting setup rather than by the certificate; see our SEO web hosting for how dedicated IPs fit into that picture.
How to order and issue it
- Choose the wildcard from our SSL certificates page and complete checkout.
- Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) for your base domain and submit it.
- Complete GeoTrust's organisation validation. Have your business registration and contact details ready to keep the 1 to 3 day window short.
- Install the issued certificate on your server; it will immediately cover every subdomain under the wildcard.
- Reissue at any time, at no extra cost, if you rotate keys or move servers.
If you decide it is not the right fit, the 15-day money-back guarantee applies. More questions of this kind are answered in our SSL certificates FAQ.
A note on encryption strength
The certificate provides 256-bit session encryption and is signed with a 2048-bit root, which meets current baseline requirements and works across roughly 99.9% of browsers plus mobile devices. The actual strength a visitor gets also depends on how your server's TLS is configured; a sensible cipher and protocol setup is worth checking against the recommendations in the Mozilla SSL Configuration Generator.
