What is the significance of different domain endings (e.g. .com .co.uk .net) |
 |
Top Level Domains (TLD)
There are three types of top-level domains:
TLD – Top Level Domains
The most common extensions that you’re probably familiar with. They include .com, .net and .org domains.
ccTLD - Country code domain name extensions
These are usually 2 characters. Some of the ccTLD extensions that you’re probably familiar with are .de for Germany, .fr for France, and .cn for China. Since the beginning of the Internet it was not possilbe to register .uk by itself - it had to have a sub-level such as .co.uk or .org.uk - However this has changed in June 2014 - (see the end of this article below)
gTLD - generic Top Level Domains
These are usually 3 or more letters such as .biz .info, .name .mobi
What do the Domain Endings Mean?
There are hundreds of domain endings - however if you are a company trading in the UK we recommend you get at least the .co.uk, .com and the newer .uk versions. Here is a brief explanation of the most common domain endings:
Watch out for unsolicited emails that claim to get your website onto the first page of Google
Here is an example of the kind of email to beware of:
Internet Marketing Services We would like to get your website on first page of Google. All of our processes use the most ethical "white hat" Search Engine Optimization techniques that Will not get your website banned or penalized. Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal.
Why you shouldn't be using free email services such as Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook |
|
It is suprising that many businesses and organisations still use emails ending with gmail.com
Or even...
- hotmail.com
- tesco.net
- btinternet.com
- ntlworld.com
- virgin.net
- aol.com
- vodafonemobile.com
- yahoo.co.uk
Do you own your Domain Name?This article explains what the terms Registrant, Registry and Registrar mean and how to find out who owns your domain name. |
|
What is a Domain Registrar?
A Registrar (or Domain Name Registrar) is an organisation that has worldwide control in the granting of domains with certain domain name endings (e.g. .com .org .net or Country-specific .uk .ie .de .it .nl etc.)
What is the Registry?
The Registry is the overarching worldwide database that Registrar's have shared access to.
Who is the Registrant?
A Registrant is the person or company that owns the domain. For example, the domain name thepiano.ie is registered to Denis O'Regan (Registrant).
The service of registration has been carried out by Easykey Limited who use Namesco Limited (Registrar) who in turn publishes the name to the central database (the Registry).
Most companies selling domains are Resellers of the main Registrars and usually offer the extra services of configuring the domain for email and website hosting