Top-Level Domain List here for more information. If you’re new to the domain industry, you’ve probably heard the term ‘TLD.’ Are you perplexed? Let us help you decipher the enigma of TLDs and the various types of TLDs!
What is Domain?
First and foremost, let us define what a domain name is. A domain name is your online identity and can be thought of as your website’s digital address. Anyone who wants to visit your website must enter your domain name into the web browser’s search bar.
Here is an example of a domain name: www.google.com The domain name is divided into three sections, each separated by a ‘dot’.
When we dissect a domain name, we start reading from right to left –
- .com – domain extension, also known as a TLD (Top-Level Domain).
- Google – the website’s name, also known as an SLD (Second-Level Domain).
- www – World Wide Web, which is usually found before a domain name but can be omitted.
Another domain name you might have come across is blog.websitename.com.
The only difference in this domain name is that ‘www’ has been replaced by ‘
blog.’ Here,
blog – is a subdomain or third-level domain.
When you want to start a website or blog, you must first select and register a domain name. When you register a domain name, you select both the name and the domain extension (www.mywebsitename.com).
What is a TLD?
The final part of your domain name is the TLD or top-level domain. Because your domain name ends with the TLD, it is also known as a domain name suffix.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, assigns and manages TLDs. Furthermore, the IANA maintains and updates a list of all valid TLDs on a regular basis.
Now that we’ve established what a TLD is, let’s dig deeper into the various types of TLDs.
Types of TLDs
The IANA officially recognizes four types of TLDs:
- gTLD – Generic Top-Level Domain
- sTLD – Sponsored Top-Level Domain
- ccTLD – Country Code Top-Level Domain
- Infrastructure Top-Level Domain
Let’s take a closer look at them:
1. gTLD stands for Generic Top-level Domain.
Top-Level Domain List of most common and recognizable TLD is the gTLD. You may have heard of the following gTLDs:
- .com
- .net
- .org
- .xyz
- .club
- .biz
- .top
The number of gTLDs is constantly increasing. The newly added gTLDs are also referred to as ‘new gTLDs.’
Several websites nowadays want to be recognized by their domain name, so they choose to suffix a new gTLD (for example,.host,.name,.biz, etc.) instead of the traditional.com to serve their website’s purpose.
Aside from that, there are TLDs that are specific to specific geographical locations, known as GeoTLDs. GeoTLDs are generic top-level domains that serve the purpose of representing a location, culture, or language.
The following GeoTLDs are currently available:
- .berlin (Germany)
- .nyc (New York City, United States)
Moscow is the capital of the Russian Federation.
As of September 2020, ICANN has made available a total of 1,246 generic TLDs. Check out the IANA website to see all of the existing gTLDs.
2. sponsored top-level domain (sTLD)
A top-level domain (sTLD) is one that is sponsored or managed by a private organization, a business, or the government.
Your domain must follow certain rules in order to be registered under a sTLD.
Among the most common sTLDs are:
- .edu is reserved for educational institutions, while.gov is reserved primarily for US government entities and agencies.
- Asia – open to individuals, businesses, and organizations with ties to the region.
- mil – military, primarily the US
Among the most recent sTLD additions are:
- .travel – only for travel agencies.
- tel – a domain name reserved for internet communication service websites.
- museum – only for museums
There are 14 sTLDs listed on the IANA website as of September 2020.
3. country code top-level domain (ccTLD)
A country-code Top-Level Domain List (ccTLD) is a
top-level domain that is unique to that country. ccTLDs are typically made up of two alphabets in the English language. Some ccTLDs, however, are also available in a country’s regional language.
Here are some examples of available ccTLDs:
- .in – India
- .uk – United Kingdom
- .us – The United States of America
- .va – Vatican city-state
- .cn – China
- .ke – Kenya
- .eg – Egypt
- .भारत – India
- .台湾 – Taiwan
- .ایران – Iran
The IANA website currently lists 316 ccTLDs as of September 2020.
Please keep in mind that some ccTLDs are only available to local residents and businesses.
Companies frequently use ccTLDs to enter local markets by localizing their website addresses.
Amazon.com is one example of a website that has been localized to meet the needs of various country markets. Here are some examples of country-specific websites:
- amazon.in
- amazon.co.uk
- amazon.com.au
4. Infrastructure Top-level Domain
This category contains only one domain name –
- Address and Routing Parameter Area (.arpa)
By reverse mapping IP addresses to domain names, you can reach the root of the name hierarchy using this domain name.
This domain is only used for Internet infrastructure, specifically the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Furthermore, the domain is managed by IANA under the supervision of the IAB (Internet Architecture Board).
The.arpa domain will have 11 second-level domains as of September 2020, according to the IANA website.
In a Nutshell
We assume you’ve figured out that the primary purpose of a TLD is to assist a user visiting a website in determining what the website is about or what purpose it serves.
Although you may be unfamiliar with the technical aspects of a domain name if you see –
www.websitename.edu You’re probably thinking of an educational website or en.wikipedia.org, and you can tell it’s a non-profit organization.
All of this can be determined simply by looking at the domain suffix.
We hope that this detailed tutorial on TLDs and TLD types helped you understand domain names in-depth and that TLD aka top-level domain is no longer jargon!
