Domain and Its Types

A Domain name is an identification that defines a administrative autonomy, authority or control within the internet. This is used for various networking contexts and for application specific naming and for addressing purpose.

Domain Name allow users to easily connect to other computer IP Address by typing .com or .in like in Google.com.

The Domain Name is categorized into three parts:

Generic Domain: This types of domains are Registered host according to their generic behaviour like .gov , .org
Country Domains: This type of domain uses two characters country abbreviation like for India .in is used.
Inverse Domain: This type of Domain Name is used to address the maps like 121.45.34.132.

Types of Domain:

Top-Level Domain (TLD)
Country Code Top-level Domain (ccTLD)
Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD)
Second Level Domain (SLD)
Third Level Domain (Sub Domain)

Top-Level Domain (TLD)

Top-level domains, or TLDs for short, represent the highest level of name resolution in the domain name system hierarchy. As a domain component of the highest level, a top-level domain always appears as the last part of a web address (to the right of the last dot), which is why TLDs are also referred to as domain endings. In the domain example already used, www.example.org, the top-level domain is the address part org.

Following are some of the Top Level Domain name:

.com Open domain for commercial web offers
.org Open TLD for non-profit organizations
.net Open address for Internet service providers
.int Strictly limited extension for internationally operating companies, organizations, and programs
.edu Domain intended for trade schools and universities
.gov Domain for US government institutions
.mil TLD available only to departments, services, and agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense

Country Code Top Level Domain(ccTLD)

ccTLDs are a special category of domain extensions administered by the respective country. ccTLDs always consist of two letters, e.g., the codes de for Germany or uk for the United Kingdom. In addition to country code TLDs, ICANN has also assigned ccTLDs for dependent territories that are geographically separated from the parent country.

Following are some of the Country Code Top Level Domain Names:

.in India
.ch Switzerland
.cn China
.de Germany
.eg Egypt
.es Spain
.fr France
.it Italy
.ru Russia
.uk The United Kingdom
.us The United States

Generic Top Level Domain

The domain type of the so-called generic top-level domains differs from country-specific addresses in that it does not cover a geographical area, but a thematic area.

The gTLD, is further divided into two types:

Non-sponsored gTLD: This is to centralize control and management by ICANN.
Sponsored gTLD: This is to the restrictions determined by the respective sponsors.

Below are some of the Non-Sponsored Generic Top Level Domain Names:

biz Business
.info Informative offers
.name Private individual
.pro Specialized professions

Below are some of the Sponsored Generic Top Level Domain Names:

.gov US government agencies
.mil US military
.aero Aviation industry
.jobs Job postings

Second Level Domain

A second-level domain is the freely selectable name below any top-level domain. For this reason, this component of a web address is also called the domain name. Although it is located below the TLD in the domain hierarchy, the second-level domain is by no means less relevant than the ending. The real situation tends to be the other way around: the domain name is much more important than the extension from both a user and SEO perspective, as it can better describe the content of a site and even contain keywords.

Below are some of the second Level Domain Name:

.co.uk Commercial web offerings in the UK (United Kingdom)
.gov.uk Central and regional government agencies and services in the UK
.me.uk Private individuals in the UK
.sch.uk Schools in the UK

Third Level Domain

This type of domain is placed before the second-level domain and is called a third-level domain or sub-domain. The function of such a third-level domain is to structure the contents of a website or web store in a meaningful way. Different topics or different language versions of a project can be clearly marked in the web address, while the domain name remains unchanged.

Example of Third level Domain