When you visit a website, your browser reads the site’s SSL certificate to make sure the site is legitimate. When you are setting up an SSL for your site, you need to prove you are actually the owner of the site. The certificate authority verifies the information in your certificate signing request (CSR), but you’ll also verify your certificate after you order it. If you haven’t ordered your certificate yet, read Ordering an SSL Certificate first.

Once your certificate has been ordered, check the verification status in your Liquid Web account.

Log into your Liquid Web account. In left menu, find the SSL link under the Domains section.
Click on the domain name of the SSL you want to verify.
Your SSL page will tell you how long your certificates are valid, when they expire, and if they have been verified. If the status is Verified, you’re ready to install your certificate! If your certificate is not verified, you’ll need to verify it before installing your certificate.

Verification can be automatic or it can involve accessing something related to your website which should be accessible only to the website administrator. The manual verification methods are:

by adding a DNS record
by editing your website code

You choose this method when you order your certificate. If you want to change your verification method, know that you can only switch between DNS verification and meta tag verification.

There is a 30 day limit to perform domain verification for your SSL Certificate. If it is not verified within 30 days, the certificate order must be cancelled and reordered. This applies to email, DNS, and meta tag verification methods.

Verifying by DNS

Verifying by DNS involves adding a TXT record to your DNS records. Only the website administrator should be able to access your DNS records, so the SSL issuers consider it a legitimate verification method.

The following instructions will only work if you use Liquid Web nameservers. If you host your DNS on your server, you’ll have to edit your DNS records through your control panel. If your nameservers are elsewhere, you will need to use that provider’s interface to add a DNS TXT record.

Copy the TXT Record Data in your SSL page to a text file.
Click on DNS in the left navigation menu, then click on the domain name for which you are adding the txt record.
Click Add Record. Change the Record Type to TXT. Paste the TXT record data from the SSL page into the Data field and save the new record by clicking the checkbox. Once DNS propagates (it may take a little while), your record will be verified!
If your certificate is still Pending after DNS propagates, contact our Support team. We’re happy to help.

After you’ve verified your certificate, you can install the SSL on your site and your website will be covered by that SSL.

Verifying by Meta Tag

Meta tag verification is the least convenient verification method. It involves creating a page in a specific place on your website with specific content.

On your SSL Dashboard, find the SSL you are verifying and click the domain name.
In the Verification section, click the drop down menu and choose Meta Tag.
This will create a new entry on the page labeled Meta Tag.
Log into your website’s control panel (cPanel, Plesk, Cloud Sites, or however else you manage your website) and create a new page containing the tag from the SSL Dashboard with this filepath:
```
example.com/.well-known/pki-validation/gsdv.txt
```
The path’s “example.com” will be your own domain name. It’s easy to create this file in a text editor and then upload it using your file manager:
- Using the File Manager in cPanel
- Using the File Manager in Plesk
Once you’ve uploaded or created your file, click Verify in your SSL Dashboard.