I conducted some SSL research and have a couple of inquiries. Do I require a separate IP address for SSL purposes? Is it possible to utilize both secured and unsecured connections using the same domain/IP address (http versus https)?

Thank you in advance!

There is a website called https://www.startssl.com where you can acquire legitimate SSL certificates for free, and these certificates are compatible with all of the popular web browsers.

Obtaining a dedicated IP will require an expense exceeding $24 per year. Therefore, if you plan to set up your own SSL on your website, it is recommended to have at least $50 available. Keep in mind that free SSL certificates typically only offer extensions ranging from 30 to 90 days.

To set up a website to function over the HTTPS protocol after installing the SSL certificate, it's necessary to configure secure connections for all site elements and pages. Firstly, the website must be redirected to the secure HTTPS protocol by adding the following directives to the beginning of the file .htaccess:

RewriteEngine on
SetEnvIf X-Forwarded-Proto https SERVER_PORT=443
SetEnvIf X-Forwarded-Proto https HTTPS=on
RewriteCond %{HTTP:HTTPS} !=on [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

In addition, all links on the site must be checked for explicit usage of the HTTP protocol, as connection through an insecure protocol will result in an untrusted connection displayed in the address bar. If there are elements available only through the HTTP protocol, the links to them should be changed to relative or explicitly specify the use of HTTPS. External resource links require updates as well.

It is also essential to ensure that the web site where the element is located has a valid SSL certificate. The HSTS mechanism can be included by adding a directive to the file .htaccess:

Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

To rank highly on Google, HTTP addresses should be redirected to an HTTPS page or resource using 301 redirection on the server side. It's highly suggested to use relative URLs for resources located on the same domain, which reduces the likelihood of errors during local web site development. Protocol-similar URLs should be used for other domains or web site links should be updated to directly link to the HTTPS resource.