What is a top-level domain? What does a top-level domain mean?
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Many people are familiar with domain names, but not top-level domains (TLDs). So, what are TLDs? What does a TLD mean? Below are the answers to these questions.
1. What is a TLD?
A top-level domain (TLD) refers to the last segment of a domain name, or the portion immediately following the dot symbol. TLDs are primarily categorized into two types: generic TLDs and country-specific TLDs. Some popular examples of TLDs include .com, .org, .net, .gov, .biz, and .edu. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the entity that coordinates Internet domain names and IP addresses.
Historically, TLDs represented the purpose and type of domain. ICANN has generally been very strict about opening new TLDs, but in 2010, it decided to allow the creation of a large number of new generic TLDs and TLDs for company-specific trademarks.
A top-level domain identifies an element of an associated website, such as its purpose (commercial, government, educational), its owner, or the geographic region of its origin. Each TLD consists of an independent registry controlled by a specific organization, which operates under the guidance of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
ICANN recognizes the following types of TLDs:
Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs): These are the most popular types of TLDs. Some examples include ".edu" for educational websites and "com" for commercial websites. These types of TLDs are available for registration.
Country-Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs): Each ccTLD identifies a specific country and is typically two letters long. For example, the ccTLD for Australia is ".au."
Sponsored Top-Level Domains (sTLDs): These top-level domains are overseen by private organizations.
Infrastructure Top-Level Domains: There is only one TLD in this category, ".arpa." The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority controls this TLD for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
Top-level domains are also called domain extensions.
II. Some common TLDs and their explanations are listed below.
.com - Commercial enterprises.
.org - Organization (usually a charity).
.net - Internet organization.
.gov - U.S. government agency.
.mil - Military.
.edu - Educational facilities such as universities.
.th - Thailand.
.ca - Canada.
.au - Australia.
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