what is domain name?
A domain name is an address for your website and a component of a URL (uniform resource locator). It helps users find a website instead of using an IP (internet protocol) address. A domain name is a name with an extension and can contain alphanumeric characters like (123example.com or example.com).
if we look into a website URL for example www.hassangul.com, here .com is TLD (top-level domain), Hassangul is SLD (second-level domain), and www is 3LD (third-level domain) according to IANA and all of them are separated with a dot (.).
what is TLD?
TLD stands for Top Level Domain, it's the ending part of any domain name after the dot (.) and is also known as a domain extension. TLD is served to recognize certain elements of the website such as geographic location or owner, or specific purpose.
According to IANNA 1591 TLDs are available in 2022. For more details click here.
various TLDs are available, but the most popular TLD is .com. There are several types of TLDs such as (.us, .pk, .in, .uk, .website, .blog) TLD with 2 alphabets or more, let's find out below the type of domain names differentiated with TLD.
Types of Domain names
5 types of domain names are:
- Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)
- Country-code TLDs (ccTLDs)
- New gTLDs
- Second-Level domains (SLDs)
- Third-level domains (3LDs) or subdomains
1. Generic Domain Names/gTLDs
Any TLD which doesn't represent any person, location, or a specific purpose is known as generic TLD or gTLD. These types of TLDs with domain names are very common and available to anyone for registration.
In 1985, seven gTLDs (.com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, and .org) were announced by IANA, 3 of them (.com, .net, .org) can be registered by anyone without any restriction, and the remaining 4 (.edu, .gov, .int, .mil) are more specific and have limited purpose.
All 7 gTLDs and their usage according to name:
.com: Commercial businesses (the most common and most used TLD)
.org: represent the organization
.gov: Government organizations/agencies
.edu: Educational institutions
.net: Network Technology organization
.mil: Military organizations
.int: Intergovernmental organizations
2. Country code TLDs / ccTLDs
ccTLDs stands for Country code top-level domains, ccTLDs is two alphabet extension of a domain name that represents a country or specific location, this type of domain name will end with 2 alphabets, for example, .us, .pl, .au, .pk, .in, etc.
ccTLDs were announced/created in 1985 and was intended to be used by the resident of the country, but now few countries allow an outsider to register ccTLDs outside the country. a few days ago, I have registered. Uk ccTLD for my website outside the United Kingdom.
Few examples of ccTLDs with their geographic location.
.us: united states
.uk: united kingdom
.au: Australia
.in: India
.pk: Pakistan
.ru: Russia
.fr: France
.eu: European union
3. New gTLDs:
New gTLDs have been announced by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) in the winter of 2013, the New gTLDs were announced due to the request of business owners and individuals. According to ICANN 1300+, New gTLDs have been announced up to 2022, and more will be available in the future.
New gTLDs stands for New Generic Top Level Domain Names, they are like the gTLDS but with new names, as we know we already have 7 gTLDs but they were not sufficient, and people want their businesses to be more specific, that is why ICANN announced the new gTLDs.
A few examples of New gTLDs are:
.restaurant
.co
.app
.website
.bank
.cloud
.health
.kids
.music
etc
You can check the list of New gTLDs on the ICANN website by clicking here
4. Second-Level Domain Name (SLDs)
The second level domain is the main part of the domain which you purchase, it can be a string of alphanumeric characters including hyphens (-) if required, which you can register at any domain registrar. SLD represents your business name or person name or organization name. For example https://hassangul.com here ‘hassangul' is the SLD (second level domain).
Another example we can take is google.com, here google is a second-level domain name (SLD).
5. Third-Level Domain (3LD) or Sub Domain
A third-level domain is also called a subdomain or 3LD. A third-level domain is part of a URL before the second-level domain name. Third-level domain was previously mandatory but now it is optional for any domain name. For example, www.hassangul.com, here third level domain is www, which stands for world wide web. This was previously compulsory for a domain to work, but now it's optional.
When you purchase a domain name and connect it with the hosting panel, inside the hosting panel you have the option to create subdomains (third-level domain names). Here are examples of third-level domain names or 3Lds.
blog.website.com: if you want to host a separate subdomain for your blog.
shop.website.com: if you want to create a standalone shop domain for your website.
You are able to create any number of 3LDs for your domain name without any restriction. For example, I can create shop2.hassangul.com for my website without any extra cost and there are no restrictions on creating subdomains. it is up to you to create any type of subdomain for your website.
What are Addon Domain and Parked Domain
Maybe you have heard of the Addon domains and parked domains, they are not the type of domains we discussed above, but they are functionality available inside the hosting control panel for a user to add a new domain. let me discuss what the addon and parked domains are.
Addon domain
Addon domain in the hosting control panel allows you to add additional domain names in the same hosting account. For example: If I have purchased hosting with multiple domains (addon domains), the initial domain which you insert during your purchase of hosting is the primary domain, and other domains which you want to add to that same hosting account are called addon domains.
Addon domain is a feature provided by the hosting control panel (depending on the package of your hosting).
Parked Domains
Parked domains are those domains that have been purchased but not yet linked to the website instead of that they are parked or unused yet. Parked domains are not linked to any webpage or email services, they are only purchased and ready to use for the website.
For example, hassangul.com is linked to the homepage of the website, when you enter it in the browser, the homepage of this website will appear, but when it is parked, you will not be able to get any homepage or website, instead of that you will get a parked page or page with ads, or DNS error if there is no parked page.
what is URL and difference between a domain name and a URL
URL stands for Uniform resource locator and is the complete address of the resource you view in the browser (website). URL contains multiple parts including domain name, protocol, and the actual resource (the page or file or video, or graphics that you view in the browser from a website.)
Parts of domain name or URL with examples
In the above example we have a URL with multiple parts including a domain name, below is the explanation of each and every part of the URL
Protocol: Protocol is a set of rules for formatting and processing data.
HTTP protocol: HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol, it is an application layer protocol (Data generated by and usable by software applications) in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems.
HTTPS protocol: HTTPS stands for secure hypertext transfer protocol. it works like HTTP, but the communication is encrypted and secure. In HTTPS the communication is secure via the TLS (Transport Layer Security) layer of the network. All the credit card details and everything between the user side and server side are encrypted when a website is using HTTPS protocol.
SSL (secure socket layer) certificate is installed on the hosting/server side to get HTTPS for a website. After installing SSL, the HTTPS protocol starts work, and communication between the user and the website is secured with the HTTPS padlock icon in the browser.
Domain Name with TLD or extension: Domain name in the above example is Hassan Gul without any space in between, domain names don't contain any spaces and after that, we have a dot (.) and com. com is the TLD (top-level domain), every domain name your purchase will be associated with a TLD/extension.
For example Google.com, here the name is Google and .com is the extension and com is the TLD, various TLDs are available online. but .com is the most usable and popular extension of TLD with 52.8% of websites used in 2022.
Page Path/resource: In the above example you see protocol first, the second item is the domain name with TLD of .com, and the last part is the actual page/resource which will be displayed to the user in the browser, these resources/pages are hosted in a server (computer connected to the internet and available 24/7) and you are viewing a page from that computer. The path is the last part of the URL which you are accessing and viewing, the browser renders that for you and displays it to you.
TLDs are divided into categories
How to buy a domain name
In this section, you will be guided of purchasing a domain name. To check whether your desired domain name is available you can use a domain name generator tool (check below for tools). which will help you find available domains.
if you already have a domain name in mind, then open the domain registration website and check its availability. For this specific guide, we will be using GoDaddy, which is a famous domain name provider.
Total Time Needed :
10
Minutes
Total Cost:
2 – 16
USD
Required Tools:
– A Domain name checker tool. Like
Instant Domain Search
Shopify Domain Name Generator
Domain Wheel
Business Name Generator
Things Needed?
– A domain registrar
Follow Below Steps to purchase a domain name.
Go to the GoDaddy website
Enter your desired domain name in the GoDaddy homepage domain availability checker section and click search domain. if the domain is available to you then you will see a button “Make it yours” click on it. It will add the domain to the cart.
Click continue to cart, next to the domain search bar, and it will pop out another window and ask you to sign up for an account. Click signup later or signup using your Facebook account or Google account.
In the next screen, you have multiple options to select from, protect your domain, choose no domain protection if you don't need it. Next, it will ask you for a website builder (coming soon page) check it, the next option is to “Build credibility with a custom email address.” if you need a custom email then purchase it otherwise skip it. and click on “continue to cart”
Select the period for domain registration, for 2 years you will get a discount, or use our coupon section to grab a discount for your purchase. and click “I'm ready to pay”.
you will be asked again to sign up for an account and create an account if you don't have one already. then at the end insert your credit card details or select PayPal as your payment method and you are done with the purchase.
Congratulation, now you are the owner of the domain you purchased.
