What Is a Top Level Domain? TLDs Explained

What Is a Top Level Domain?

Have you ever looked at a website address and noticed the “.com” or “.org” at the very end? That’s called a top-level domain, or TLD for short. If you’re wondering, “what is a top level domain?” – it’s simple! It’s the letter combo that is just behind the domain name. Let’s say you stumble upon “www.cozyreads.books”. That “.books” at the end is the top-level domain. It tells you that this corner of the internet is probably a haven for book lovers – if you wanna boil it down, thats the easyanswer to the question to, “what are top level domains?”.

There’s a bunch of these top level domains, and the top level domain list – is only growing day by day. Currently the top level domain list holds a bit over 1500 different top level domains

These TLDs aren’t just fancy add-ons; they give people clues about your site. Picking one is like choosing the right hat for the right occasion. Maybe you’ll feel at home in the world of “.com”, or you want to show off a tech-edge with a “.io” top level domain.

What is an example of a Top level domain

When you’re typing a web address into your browser, you might not give much thought to what comes after the last dot. So, what is a top-level domain, in more everyday terms? It’s the part of a web address that labels a site’s identity or sometimes its connection to a country – depending on the chosen top level domain

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD)

Domains with generic top-level extensions encompass three or more characters and can be registered by anyone. Some of the widely recognized gTLDs are: .com, .net and .org

Even though termed as ‘generic’, these TLDs can convey specific insights about a website. For instance, a .net domain is commonly associated with network-centric sites, while .org often signifies an organization. There’s an increasing trend among corporates to customize their gTLDs further, by including the top-level domain as part of the domain name – f.x buy.now.

Since 2011, established organizations and firms have been permitted to apply for and register unique gTLDs. This led to the emergence of exclusive TLDs like: .google, .amazon and .apple

In 2014, a new category known as geographic top-level domains (geoTLD) was introduced. These are designed to affiliate websites with a geographical, geopolitical, ethnic, linguistic, or cultural group. While geoTLDs are region-centric, they fall under the gTLD category due to the unrestricted registration process. Here are a few examples of geoTLDs: .berlin, .amsterdam and .paris.

There are 1592 generic top-level domains available as of Saturday. September 9, 2023

Generic-Restricted Top-Level Domains (grTLD)

Generic-restricted top-level domains (grTLDs) have similarities with gTLDs but come with specific restrictions for their utilization. Registration of such domains necessitates the submission of proof of eligibility as per IANA requirements. The various grTLDs include: .biz, .name and .pro. For instance, .biz grTLD is strictly for authentic business or commercial purposes. Therefore, routine blogs or affiliate sites might not qualify for it.

Sponsored Top-Level Domains (sTLD) 

Sponsored top-level domains are special TLDs that are backed by private businesses or institutions. These domains are specified for communities and organizations that have particular criteria and shared interests, such as corporate entities or federal agencies. The supervising organizations maintain authority over qualification guidelines. Examples of these sTLDs are: .gov, .museum, .edu, and .mil (specific to U.S. military)

Like generic top-level domains, sTLDs also offer valuable insights about the websites and their affiliated sectors. For instance, .edu is exclusively for accredited educational bodies in the U.S., while .gov is indicative of U.S. federal government websites. Sites employing sTLDs facilitate users in swiftly determining authorized info and are largely viewed as trustworthy.

To avail an sTLD for your own website, you are required to submit a request with a registrar accredited by ICANN, ensuring you fulfill the pertinent qualifications. Currently, a total of just 14 sponsored top-level domains are enlisted in the IANA catalogue.

Country-Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD)

Country-code top-level domains, or ccTLDs, are reserved dual-letter extensions for countries, self-governing states, and territories. Websites and organizations associated with respective countries or territories can use ccTLDs, as well as enterprises operating within those regions.

Employing a ccTLD can tell customers which country the business is situated in and caters to. Furthermore, Google utilizes ccTLDs to geotarget your website for more precise search results. Nonetheless, ccTLDs specifically target countries and territories, not languages. For International SEO and multilingual websites, more than a simple ccTLD is necessary. Some prevalent ccTLDs: .ca (Canada), .br (Brazil), .de (Germany), .fr (France), .ie (Ireland), .in (India), .uk (United Kingdom), .us (United States)

In the past few years, ccTLDs have been used for more than location indications: they are now part of the website’s branding. For instance, .io is a frequently used ccTLD in the tech sector, while .ly (Libya) and .es (Spain) are often employed to construct optimized domain names, like Apple’s itun.es. Taking note of this growing trend, Google has started recognizing certain ccTLDs as gTLDs.

Test Top-Level Domains (tTLD)

Test top-level domains, also known as tTLDs, are distinct set of domains and TLDs, reserved specifically for development and testing aims. These specific domains cannot be officially registered with the Domain Name System (DNS). This provides the advantage of being able to explore and test software modifications without the worry of clashing with an existing or upcoming domain name. Mainly, tTLDs are deployed for internal development operations and documentation.

There are four primary tTLDs that are used: .test, .example, .invalid and .localhost

Infrastructure Top-Level Domain

The structure of an upper-level domain comprises of one unique TLD: the Address and Routing Parameter Area (ARPA, or .arpa). In reality, .arpa was the inaugural top-level domain to be established. Its registration as a TLD is disallowed because it’s usually employed for purposes associated with internet infrastructure.

However, even though TLDs don’t directly influence your Google rankings, they can shape people’s perception of your brand – trust is key in this context. From the viewpoint of users, some TLDs appear more reputable than others. For instance, a research from 2022 reveals that .com and .org are among the most trusted TLDs for websites.

If users deem your TLD more credible, they are likelier to select your website from search results – rather then untruest worthy websites. Hence, a generic TLD such as .com (or the ccTLD of your country) might attract more organic traffic than a less popular TLD.

Users are thus inclined to click on links, among the search results, that they consider trustworthy

So is a .com TLD really more trustworthy than other widely used TLDs like .co, .net or .io? growthbadger.com tried to answer this back in 2022, by doing an extensive experiment involving no less than 1500 participants – all of whom helped create a “Trust Rating” on a scale of 1 to 5, for the most used TLDs

Trust Rating (1-5)

Memorability Rating

Another crucial aspect when considering registering a new domain is how easy it is to remember the domain’s TLD. So they looked in the 2022 study, they also looked at whether specific TLDs are easier to remember than others.

And again, it was very clear that .com domain extensions are easier to remember, taking the lead with a recall score of 44%.

With a second place going to the .co TLD, but with a significant drop in how difficult people think it was to remember. A quarter of people had a harder time remembering a .co TLD than a .com – which is quite remarkable.

And if you then look at any of the other international TLDs such as .net and .org respectively – you see an even greater drop in people who had trouble remembering these TLDs

But interestingly enough, people had a relatively easy time remembering the .biz TLD – despite it being a TLD that you don’t normally see used. In fact, it was far better than both .us, .io, .net and .blog – all of which are the international TLDs that were hardest for people to remember.

However, this is understandable given that our memory works primarily through mental categorization. Since .com is the more widely used TLD, .net is often mistakenly remembered as .com.