Don’t be left with doubts

What is a Domain Name and how does it work?

A web domain is the unique name given to a website on the Internet. This name identifies a specific web page and there cannot be two or more websites that share the same domain name.

In the case of Webempresa, our web domain would be webempresa.com.

If you want to buy a web domain you can do it at Webempresa.com, from our domain registrar.

I want to buy a domain

Parts of a domain

A web domain is composed of two parts. The first part called domain name is the name we want to give to our website, the second part called domain extension refers to a geographical location such as .es (Spain), .mx (Mexico), etc., or to a specific web type such as .org (organizations), .net (technological).

Domain name: Webempresa
Domain extension: .com

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

¿How do domains work??

Domains are used to access a web page without having to remember the IP address where the server information is located.

When we type in the browser Webempresa.com to access the web, the DNS is responsible for translating the web domain to the correct IP address.

This translation is done in order to remember the address of a website, since a domain name is more identifiable than a numeric string and thus help to make navigation easier.

ALL TYPES

Domain types

TLDs: Top Level Domains

The domain levels are separated by dots and start counting from right to left, and the domain name must be differentiated from the extensions.

The TLD is the first level, that which is to the right of the dot, and top-level extensions have generally been differentiated between generic and territorial (gTLD and ccTLD). Since a few years there are also the sponsored ones (sTLD), etc.

Top level domains are those with top level extensions, whether generic or ccTLD.

In a top level domain or TLD, the extension is the first level and the domain name is the second level.

Then there are extensions such as .com.es which are two-level extensions (1st and 2nd) but which give rise to third-level domains, because the domain name is at the third level of the domain.

gTLD: Generic Top-Level Domain

The gTLDs are the generic top level domains, and in this group we can find the most known and common extensions that can be registered such as .com, .net, .org, etc.

The extensions of the gTLDs in their beginnings were directed to the creation of a type of web in concrete, for example the .org for organizations, .net for technological companies, or .edu for educational organizations. Today this orientation is more anecdotal, since the use of extensions such as .com for all types of projects has become widespread, and only in some cases is the relationship between the extension and its original purpose maintained.

In 2011 ICANN began to allow new domain extensions with which, for example, certain companies and organizations got their own domain extension such as .google, .oracle, .lawyer, .academy, etc.

New gTLDs were also created for very specific geographic areas (GeoTLDs) such as .paris, .berlin, or .barcelona; or for specific sectors such as .shop or .online.

ccTLD: Country code top-level domains

ccTLDs are country code top-level domains, and they are oriented to a particular geographic space.
Some of them are .es, .fr, .jp, etc.

These domains are focused on a territory and not on a specific language. As an example of a territorial domain we would have the extensions corresponding to Spain (.es), Mexico (.mx) or France (.fr).

sTLD

sTLDs or sponsored top-level domains are domains oriented to a particular organization or sector. This type of domains are not managed by ICANN, but their management has been ceded to private organizations.

Examples of sTLDs are .travel (sponsored by Tralliance Corporation), .tel(sponsored by TelNic Ltd) o .aero (sponsored by SITA).

Third level domains

Another less common type of extension is the second level extension. These domains are formed by the sum of two extensions, , one from a gTLD and the other from a ccTLD, giving rise to third level domains.

An example of a second level domain extension would be .com.es, .org.uk, .com.mx, .gob.ar, etc.

Subdomains

Subdomains are domains that we create from our own domain.

In the case of webempresa.com a subdomain would be guias.webempresa.com.

This type of domains are especially useful for testing or in the case of having a generic domain such as .com for the global website, and then several subdomains for the territorial websites such as es.dominio.com, uk.dominio.com, de.dominio.com, etc.

If you want to know what are all the TLDs domains you can consult the following link.