Organization Validation (OV) SSL Certificate
Organization Validation (OV) SSL certificates verify your organization identity in addition to domain ownership. Learn what OV certs include and when to use them.
An Organization Validation (OV) SSL certificate includes verified organization identity information in addition to domain ownership verification. The Certificate Authority checks that your organization is a legitimately registered entity before embedding its legal name and location in the certificate.
What the CA Verifies for OV
OV issuance requires the CA to verify:
- Domain control (same methods as DV)
- Legal existence of the organization (business registration records, government databases)
- Physical address of the organization
- A working phone number that can be independently verified
This process is mostly manual and typically takes 1–3 business days.
What Shows in an OV Certificate
Unlike DV, an OV certificate's Subject field contains the full organization identity:
CN— Common Name (domain)O— Organization (legal name)L— Locality (city)ST— State/ProvinceC— Country (two-letter ISO code)
Modern browsers don't display this information in the address bar UI, but it is visible when a user clicks the padlock and inspects the certificate — or uses a tool like this decoder.
When to Use an OV Certificate
OV certificates make sense for:
- Business websites where organizational credibility matters
- SaaS products used by enterprise customers who audit certificates
- Government and non-profit websites
- API endpoints consumed by security-conscious partners
Identifying an OV Certificate
Paste the certificate into the decoder. An OV certificate contains the OID 2.23.140.1.2.2 in the Certificate Policies extension, and the Subject will include an O field with the organization's legal name.
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