What Is an Internet Domain? Types, Examples, and DNS
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An “domain,” in Internet terms, is the name of a website.
A website’s name is unique. There can’t be two identical domains. It’s true that two similar ones can exist, such as “pepito.com” and “pepito.net,” but you’ll notice that part of a domain name is its “extension.” In the first case, it’s “.com,” and in the second, “.net.” So, a domain has two parts: its name itself and its extension.
To give an example from our own company, Duplika, our domain name is “duplika.com”.
Like a name, an IP address...
A domain name has an equivalent in a physical address for a website. In industry jargon, people say that a domain “points to an IP”: an IP is also a unique number, the identity of the physical computer that hosts the files that make up the website. Just as a house needs an address with a ZIP code, a web page needs a domain name to be identified.
Thanks to this identity, on the Internet a browser can bring text, images, videos, and more from a physical server to our phone or computer. How? Using the domain name—for example, “duplika.com”—our Internet browser (Chrome, Safari, or Firefox) finds the IP number through an international “directory” called DNS. But we don’t want to get too technical just yet, so let’s stick to the practical side of things, which is very interesting.
Choosing domain extensions
When buying a domain name, you need to make decisions about both parts of the domain: its name and its extension.
“MyCompany.com” or “MyCompany.com.ar”? The quick answer is another question: Will my audience be “limited” to Argentina (com.ar), or is it the whole world (.com)? Keep in mind that a jack of all trades is a master of none. Remember that anyone, anywhere in the world, can visit our website. That’s why it’s most important to be clear about our audience so we can optimize our content, improve how we communicate it, and boost our SEO.
There’s no need to point out that people in Spain speak a “different” kind of Spanish from people in Argentina. If our audience is Spanish, they’ll say “vosotros estáis...” instead of “ustedes están,” among thousands of other differences. With this in mind, we need to consider a domain’s extension. If it’s “.es,” the content is written for people in Spain. If it’s “.mx,” it’s for people in Mexico, and so on.
But before giving it too much thought, let’s always check whether the domain we want is available!
We take care of your website maintenance
I want to check if my domain is available now!
How do domains work?
Domains are the “human face” of a website. Behind the scenes, “deliciasdechocolate.com.ar” is converted into an IP number, which makes it possible to connect a server (computer) to our phone or PC. That connection transfers the files that make up the site to our device so we can view and browse the website.
So, there are two distinct sides interacting with each other: on the one hand, the domain name (the tip of the iceberg, the “what”), and on the other, the web server that hosts the files (the endpoint, the “where”). The hosting service—the “where”—is commonly known as hosting or “web hosting.” Next, we’ll see how to connect the two.
What is “domain delegation”?
As we’ve discussed, a domain name is the human face of a web address. On the other side, there’s a physical server identified by its IP number. The process of “tying” the first to the second is called “delegation”.
Domain delegation is a virtual procedure for which we only need to know the DNS provided by our hosting provider. Let’s take a closer look:
Before or after acquiring our domain, we need to purchase its web hosting (in fact, it’s the service Duplika specializes in). We recommend having the hosting ready in advance, specifically because this lets us find out the DNS or “domain name server names”—primary and secondary—for the server where we’ll host our website.
For example, in Duplika’s case, the server names are ns1.duplika.com and ns2.duplika.com (primary and secondary—“backup”—server, respectively).
The virtual procedure for delegating—linking our domain name to the server—varies depending on the site where we bought the domain. However, it’s essentially always the same. Somewhere, we’ll be able to “edit” our domain to add this information.
If you prefer to buy a domain through Duplika, we handle the delegation process for your convenience.
For example, if we’ve bought a .com.ar domain through nic.ar, you can find the specific instructions here.
If, on the other hand, we’ve purchased our domain name through GoDaddy, after signing in to our account, the process is as follows:
And then:
This is just one example of how to delegate DNS, since each domain registrar may show different variations of the same process.
Who owns domains?
When we buy a domain through a secure and recognized channel, we own it. This becomes clear when entering the registered owner’s details: the domain belongs to the person designated as its owner, regardless of who pays with the credit card. If we work with an agency or web designer, we need to make sure they’re buying the domain with our information and NOT their own. It’s not unusual for an advertising or web development agency to handle the domain name purchase for us, but register the domain in ITS name instead of ours. It’s unethical and wrong any way you look at it, but it has happened and will continue to happen.
But who owns domain names that are still available?
Unclaimed Internet domains don’t belong to anyone until someone registers them.
Domain names are essentially leased to individuals or organizations for a specific period, generally one to ten years, by domain name registrars.
Domain registrations are overseen by an organization called ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). This organization specifies which domain extensions are available (.com, .net, .com.ar, .es, and all the many other extensions created over time). ICANN does not govern the system, but helps coordinate how IP addresses are assigned to prevent duplication or conflicts. ICANN is also the central repository for IP addresses, from which address ranges are provided to regional registries and then distributed to network providers.
ICANN doesn’t directly manage registrations: registry operators maintain the databases for each extension, and registrars process registrations, while IANA maintains the database of top-level domains and their managing organizations. We’ll discuss this later in the article.
How long do I own a domain name?
As long as we renew our domain when it’s close to expiring, we’ll virtually own it forever. Its expiration date depends on the date we bought it and the length of time we purchased it for. For example, if we register pepito.com on 03/13/2023 for a period of 5 years, it will expire on 03/13/2028.
When buying or renewing a domain, we can choose how many years we want to keep it. Some domain registration companies let you buy a domain for up to a decade. Nic.ar in Argentina, however, allows registration for one year.
What happens if I don’t renew a domain name?
We lose it. Generally, we’ll have some extra time (a “grace period”) to renew it, depending on the registrar (15 days or a month). Nic.ar explains its renewal policies here.
In general, we can always buy it again (unless someone else does first). Be aware that some registrars may keep our domain if they think it’s valuable. The goal is to sell it later for more than the usual price. GoDaddy is one company that often engages in these practices when a domain name looks “juicy.”
Examples might include names like “técnicodeaireacondicionado.com,” “encontrarpareja.es,” and similar generic terms that make interesting keywords for ranking on Google/Bing. Also, when a domain has been active for several years, GoDaddy may reserve it for a while to sell it at a higher price.
If it doesn’t sell within a reasonable amount of time, GoDaddy will release the domain at its usual price.
What does it mean to “redirect” a domain?
Domains can use redirects, which, in practical terms, means that when a user types our domain name to visit the site, they’re automatically sent to another one (as users, we sometimes don’t even notice).
Redirecting a domain name can be useful for campaigns and microsites, or to send people to specific pages on your main site. On a poster, a short address like www.celulares.com/sorteo is easier to remember than www.celulares.com/novedades/2023/galaxy/sorteo.html. So, an easy-to-remember URL is created, and when we enter it, it automatically redirects us to the content that the site owner or company wants us to see on its main website.
Redirects are also useful for avoiding spelling confusion. For example, if we visit www.fb.com, we’ll automatically be redirected to www.facebook.com.
Different types of domains
Domains can be divided into five types, each with its own characteristics:
Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD, 'generic Top-Level Domain')
Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD, 'country code Top-Level Domain')
Second-Level Domains.
Third-Level Domains.
Sponsored Top-Level Domains (sTLD, 'sponsored Top-Level Domain')
The first two “Top-Level” groups are also called “first-level” domains. Just to be clear, this isn’t related to quality but to a hierarchical ordering that we’ll understand better shortly.
gTLD: generic top-level domains
A top-level domain is exactly what it sounds like: a type of domain name found at the first level of the Internet’s domain name system. These are commonly used domain names—in other words, the most widespread internationally. gTLDs aren’t defined by a particular country. Classic examples include .com, .org, and .edu, but there are also ones like .audio.
Other examples of gTLDs include .mil (military), .gov (government), .org (for nonprofit organizations and various institutions), and .net, which was originally designed for Internet service providers (ISPs) but is now used more broadly and flexibly.
The official list of gTLDs is maintained by an organization called the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and the complete, up-to-date list can be found here. It also includes ccTLDs and third-level domains, which we’ll discuss next.
ccTLD: country code top-level domains
ccTLDs use only two letters because they’re based on international country codes, such as .us for the United States, .ar for Argentina, or .jp for Japan. They’re often used by companies creating sites dedicated to specific regions. They’re a great way to let users know that the content they’re viewing is current and/or specific to their region.
“Third-Level” domain names
Simple: they come from combining the first two. For example, a .com combined with a .ar (a generic top-level extension combined with a country-code extension).
Although the domain categories mentioned above are the most common, there are other “unusual” variations we may come across.
Second-level domains
Not very common. The best example of these domain names can be found in England. British companies occasionally use .co.uk instead of .com. Another perfect example of a second-level domain is .gov.uk, often used by government institutions, while .ac.uk is used by academic institutions and universities.
sTLD: sponsored domains
That’s right. A sponsored sTLD, although it belongs to the top-level domain group, has a sponsor that represents a specific community. Sponsors may be based on ethnic, geographic, professional, technical, or other concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations. They establish (and enforce) rules that restrict who is eligible to register an sTLD.
Examples of sTLD domain names include those with the extensions .travel (sponsored by Tralliance Corporation), .tel (sponsored by .tel), and .aero (sponsored by SITA).
What are “subdomains”?
Subdomains are prefixes added to any domain name to separate a section of its website. E.g.: clients.mycompany.com (the subdomain in this example is “clients”).
Admins and marketing teams mainly use subdomains to manage sections that benefit from having their own hierarchy or being separate from the site’s main content. It’s worth noting that subdomains work as websites independent of their main domain. This distinction lets you develop a section of a website without interfering with the main domain’s site.
Subdomains are useful in specific cases: webmasters don’t need to buy an additional domain name to create divisions or specific sections within their site. For example, Facebook uses developers.facebook.com to provide information specifically for application and web developers who want to use the Facebook API. Another great example is support.google.com.
Another common example is es.empresa.com (the subdomain where we’ll find the Spanish-language version of a site whose main domain uses a different language) or latam.empresa.com (where the subdomain provides content specifically for Latin America).
Now that we know everything about domain names, why not get one of our own?
We take care of your website maintenance
I want to check if my domain is available now!
Questions? Write to us! We’re here to help and advise you. Best of luck with your ventures, and thanks for reading.