All devices on the World Wide Web are recognized by a specific number called an IP address, such as 123.123.123.123. In case you have a website, the domain name that you enter to access it is to save you time, but the server where the site files are still has an IP address. Due to the fact that there're many more websites and devices than there are IP addresses, all shared website hosting servers have a number of websites under the very same IP, while using a dedicated server you will have 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. One advantage would be that you will enjoy far better search engine rankings as a dedicated IP often means a quicker loading website. Furthermore, you need such an IP in case you intend to buy an SSL certificate for your website and secure the info that visitors submit on it.