What is the meaning of TLD? Key points about gTLD

TLD is the abbreviation for Top Level Domain. So, what is Top Level Domain as a generic term? Basically, it is the most important hierarchical part of a domain name. This is all about the organisation of web addresses in the Internet globally. Generic Top Level Domains or gTLDs indicate particular groups of domain names in other words. Consider the example “atakdomain.com”; in which the last part is “com”, and it is called as gTLD of this domain name.

What about the other parts of a Domain Name?

Of course, any domain name consists of multiple parts (at least two parts) separated by “dot” (i.e., “.”). In addition to a TLD, the other component of a domain name is Second Level Domain (SLD) just left to the TLD. It is also called as subdomain and used to distinct one website from the others under the same TLD. Consider again the example “atakdomain.com”; in which the first part is “atakdomain”, and it is called as SLD of this domain name.

How to choose the best TLD for your brand or business

In order to start up a new business with globally thinking, after a cracking brain storm you have to get the best TLD and domain name that best fit your needs. This will ensure your website accessed and utilised widely. Always keep in mind that your website will in the future be a key to success. Therefore, both the TLD and/or ccTLD choices should be made cleverly in addition to the subdomain name indicating your business elegantly. Name of the TLD or earnest use of ccTLD is highly of importance as the starting point for creative thinking to build a successful business or brand. For example, if you would like to have a company operating internationally then it is best to prefer “com” (e.g., “atakdomain.com”) while nationwide or a specific regional focus of a business can be better utilized through a ccTLD (e.g., “holidays.com.es”).

TLD types: gTLD, ccTLD, sTLD and iTLD

TLDs are mainly categorized in four groups by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN):

1. Generic Top Level Domains (gTLD) are the most familiar TLDs such as “com” for commercial, “net” for network, “edu” for education and “gov” for government. Although these are available for anyone, there are a few strictly controlled subgroups. There are 21 gTLDs well-known and usually at least three characters.
2. Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) are designed to indicate a particular geographic location or country. There are over 200 ccTLDs indicated with two letters. They are likely to offer big advantages for specialized businesses around the world as targeting a well-defined group of Internet explorers. Among them the most popular ccTLDs are “cn” for China, “tk” for Tokelau, “de” for Germany, “uk” for United Kingdom and “ru” for Russia.
3. Sponsored Top Level Domains (sTLD) are administered by private organizations and industry. Here are the most known: “aero”, “cat”, “coop”, “int”, “jobs”, “mil”, “mobi”, “tel” and “travel”.
4. Infrastructure Top Level Domain (iTLD) is namely Address and Routing Parameter Area (ARPA) and “arpa” TLD is managed just for The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) body defining standard Internet operating protocols.

Historical view for IP addresses, website addresses and Domain Name organization?

Bearing in mind the ever-increasing number of the websites, it was a decisive task to organize web addresses. From 1 website in 1991 (i.e., World Wide Web Project), nowadays over 1.94 billion websites are on the Internet. However, a recent survey stated that just about 200 million of them are active indeed. Since 1983, the Domain Name System (DNS) has been in use to simplify and indicate websites by means of domain names rather than IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. It is used to translate a long number IP address (for example, 185.46.41.121) into a specific domain name (for example, atakdomain.com) that is rather easy to remember and practical to use in daily life, compared to the corresponding IP address.

How do I get TLD, gTLD and buy Domain Name?

ICANN is the standard registration body for domain names and Top Level Domains - gTLDs. Globally, it has several accredited online registrars.  atakdomain.com is well one of them enabling domain name searches to readily meet your business needs with its active supporting team and infrastructure. After finding the perfect domain name and meeting your business desires, you can very easily register your domain name at low costs and get also highly reliable and unfailing web hosting offers. Usually, gTLDs may cost between $9.99 and $2.99 to register for a year. If you want you can also register it for 5 years. You can visit a domain name registrar web site and have look at the Top Level Domain list of prices at https://www.atakdomain.com/en and quickly buy a domain name that you like, where here are some popular extensions and their prices:

1. com $9,99 /Year
2. net $11,99 /Year
3. org $11,99 /Year
4. info $2,99 /Year

How many TLDs are there?

The number of TLDs have been steadily increasing just above 1,528 for website addresses (as of August 2019). They cover amazingly everything from “aaa” to “zw”. So which TLD is the most preferred considering the global use, business effect and other measures? Studies for website popularity to rank the first 1 million showed also that more than 48% of them are “com” domains among the 2142 different ones.

Which TLD is the most preferred?

Highly depending on the TLD, generic or specific searches especially with Google in the Internet result in displaying a mostly related websites list including your company’s name, address and commercial business. For being on top of the search lists, you may consider the “com”, ”net”, “org” and “co” gTLDs for the sake of awareness and accessibility. The most registered domain extension in the world is still and far ahead “com”, well above 137 million in 2018.