Understanding Various Types of Domain Names

Importance of Choosing the Right Domain Name

When building a new site, choosing a domain name could be one of the most difficult decisions. As the chosen name will be seen and entered into the address bar by anyone who wants to visit it, making it to be the identifier of the site.

Since your  name will be the face of your brand, you want to make it brand-able and memorable. Despite most users not knowing it, there are actually five different types you can choose between. Although not everyone can be right for your site, allowing us to narrow it down.

Does your choice of domain affect SEO?

Your choice of domain name does matter for search engine optimization (SEO), but probably not as much as you think.

Having target keywords in your name matters, but not nearly as much as it used to. It’s much more important to have a high-quality website, and your website builder can help you with that. Don’t worry too much about how the name will affect SEO, as there are many other ways to improve SEO.

5 Different Types of Domains

1. Top-Level Domains

Top-Level Domain (TLD) refers to the suffix or the last part of a domain name. There’s a limited list of predefined suffixes which includes:

• .com – commercial business (the most common TLD)
• .org – organizations (typically, nonprofit)
• .gov – government agencies
• .edu – educational institutions
• .net – network organizations
• .mil – military

2. Country Code Top Level Domains

Next, on the list, we have country code top-level domains (ccTLD). As the name suggests, these are technically tied to different countries. Each country has its own ccTLD, but you don’t have to use one, just because you live in a specific country.

For example, the ccTLD .co is technically for websites based out of Colombia, but it’s commonly used by internet startups, like AND.CO.

These  extensions can be useful if you’re building a website in a specific country and want to signal to your visitors that they’ve come to the right place. For example, websites based out of the US can use the ‘.us’ extension, while companies from Japan can use the ‘.jp’ extension.

3. Generic Top-Level Domains

Next, we’ve got generic top-level domains (gTLDs). This is more of a definition than an actual type of domain. As the description suggests, it’s just a different variation of a TLD. So, you could technically classify this type of domain as a TLD as well.

The generic aspect of this  extension refers to the types of use-cases that these domains are intended for.

4. Second-Level Domains

Second level domains are below the TLDs highlighted above in terms of hierarchy. This doesn’t mean they’re any less authoritative, or valuable. Rather, this describes the second piece of the domain name

There are also country code second-level domains, which might look like the following:

• .co.uk – Companies in the United Kingdom commonly use this.
• .gov.uk – This is used by government agencies throughout the United Kingdom.
• .gov.au – Government agencies across Australia use this.

5. Third Level Domains

Third level domains are below second-level domains in the domain name hierarchy. They aren’t a full  name in and of themselves, but merely a portion of a domain name.

For example, in the domain name “www.creatives.me,” ‘www’ would be the third level domain. Or, if you’re using a sub-domain to build an additional section of your site, this would be a third-level domain as well.

To have a fully functional name you don’t need to have a third-level domain name. For example, ‘creative.me’ would function just perfectly. Even the ‘www’ that used to be a requirement of domain names is no longer necessary.