Top Level Domain (TLD)

Sources:

• Choosing the Best TLD for Your Site - get.it.com
• Top 10 Top-Level Domains for Tech Startups (blacknight.blog)

Contents

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Overview

TIP

A domain name is as much a business necessity as a well-structured advertising campaign. Thanks to the domain, people can easily and quickly find your website, and search algorithms can bring it to the top. It’s important to approach the choice of a domain name very carefully.

A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the highest level in a Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy after the root domain. Top-level domains are also called “Internet domain extensions” or “domain suffixes”. Often, Internet TLDs represent what information a website has to offer. For example, if the URL you type ends in .blog, you’re more likely to land on someone’s personal or professional blog. Therefore, it’s important to choose the best TLD for your site.

Each TLD has an independent registry that is overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The ICANN is a non-profit organization registered and based in California. Its tasks include maintaining the reliability and stability of the Internet, as well as coordinating technical functions related to the management of Domain Name Servers.

Types of Top Level Domains

ICANN distinguishes between 6 types of available TLDs depending on the purpose, owner, and geographic location of the website:

• Country Code TLDs (ccTLDs): Each country has its own TLD based on the 2-letter ICO codec. For example, the US TLD is .us and the Italian TLD is .it. This TLD can only have two letters, not three.
• Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD): These types of TLDs are called ‘generic’ for historical reasons. Currently, there are over 1,200 generic TLDs and there are different types, such as sponsored, geographic, and branded. Examples of generic TLDs are .com, .org, .info, and .net. Anyone can register these types of TLDs.
• Infrastructure Top Level Domains (arpa): These come in only one type, arpa, which means Address and Routing Area. They are controlled by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
• Sponsored Top Level Domains (sTLDs): Private entities manage these TLDs. Examples of sponsored top-level domains are .asia, .edu, .aero, .museum, .jobs, .mobi, and .gov. These TLDs are limited and can only be assigned if certain guidelines are met.
• Creative Top Level Domains: This type includes TLDs such as .tv for TV shows and other video projects, .name for websites that focus on a specific person, .me for personal branding projects, .expert to show the world you’ve mastered a particular niche, or .guru which is similar.
• Internationalized Top Level Domains (IDNs): These types of TLDs can be seen in the native alphabet of the country that owns the site. That is, they can, for example, use the Cyrillic alphabet or other special characters.

NOTE

You can also use TLDs such as .example, .invalid, .localhost, and .test. However, they’re designed for specific tasks, which are reflected in their names.

Common TLDs

The choice of TLD is very important, because it will reflect your brand and type of business. Also, they affect the cost of a domain name.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common TLDs out there right now:

• .com
• .net
• .org
• .gov
• .edu
• .io
• .blog
• .co
• .tv
• .ai
• .app
• .dev
• .tech
• .mobi
• .cloud
• .network
• .digital
• .software