All devices on the World Wide Web are identified by a special number called an IP address, for example 123.123.123.123. When you have a website, the domain that you enter to be able to open it is to save you time, yet the server where the site files are still has an IP address. Since there are many more websites and devices than there are IP addresses, all of the shared web hosting servers have a number of sites under the very same IP, while when you use a dedicated server you'll be given a dedicated IP as well. Even in the first case though, you are able to get a dedicated IP for your websites and host them on a shared server. An advantage would be that you'll have far better search engine positions because a dedicated IP usually means a faster loading website. What's more, you need such an IP if you would like to purchase an SSL certificate for your site and shield the information that your visitors submit on it.