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Domains
The URL's you're used to seeing, like www.github.com, have different domain levels. Commonly, they are top-level domains (TLDs), second-level domains (2LDs), and third-level domains (3LDs).
Each domain must be followed by a . (although you don't need to include this for the TLD when you navigate to a website)
In www.example.com:
- The 3LD is
www. - The 2LD is
example. - The TLD is
com.
The domain system is hierarchical. Starting from the right, being the top level, the domain to it's left is lower, and so on.
TLDs are the alpha-numeric identifiers you see on the right-most part of a url. Some common examples of top-level domains are .com, .org, .net, .info, etc.
TLDs are categorised by their functions.
Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) are used to identify a domain that is generally used by people in that country. google.pl might be the preferred Google domain for Polish people because the results will be offered in their native language. Some country codes include:
| Country | ccTLD |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | uk. |
| Germany | de. |
| New Zealand | nz. |
| Ukraine | ua. |
| Ireland | ie. |
| Australia | au. |
Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are the generic, commonly-known TLDs. They include:
| gTLDs |
|---|
| com. |
| org. |
| net. |
| info. |
| biz. |
Some specific companies and even government entities have designated TLDs to use. Here are some examples:
| TLD Categories | TLD |
|---|---|
| Education | edu. |
| Government | gov. / army. / mil. |
| Finance | money. / cash. / gold. / loan. |
| Technology | ai. / io. / download. / tech. |
| Professional | pro. / lawyer. / careers. / management. |
To view the full list of TLDs, visit https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt
To view the categories of the TLDs, visit https://tld-list.com/tld-categories
To read more about domain names, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name