What is .com and why do we need it whenever we visit a website or send an email? Why can’t we just type in Amazon in a web browser and go directly to their web site?
The extra pieces added to web site names, such as .com and .net, are called top-level domains or TLDs. Sometimes TLDs are also referred to as domain name extensions or suffixes. TLDs are a necessary part of web site addresses which are also referred to as domain names or URLs.
After the creation of the Internet and later the World Wide Web (www), domain names were developed to make it easier for people to connect their computer with other computers and networks. Instead of having to remember and enter an IP address such as 192.0.2.1, people could use domain names like example.com. Initially there were just a few TLDs like .com, .org and .mil. Commercial entities such as businesses were supposed to use .com as their domain name extension, and non-profits used .org and .mil was set aside for military domain names. Many other TLDs have been added over the years such as .biz, .co and .info plus ones for countries like .uk for web sites in the United Kingdom. There are now thousands of different top-level domains.
A TLD is like a zip code on old fashion postal mail. A zip code is at the end of the mailing address on a letter as is the TLD on a domain name. When sorting mail for delivery, the post office starts with the zip code to determine what wider area the letter will be delivered. The address is the most specific on the left side of the mailing location – the street and house number. A TLD is very similar, the right side is analyzed first and is the widest area of the address. The online address is continued to be analyzed continuing to the left to find the web site. When you want to go to the site example.com by entering the URL in your web browser, the components of the Internet, which your computer is part of in this situation, will ask the .com domain name (DNS) servers where is example.com? More specifically, what is its IP address? This is like your mailing address being located within your zip code – example.com is located within the .com part of the web.
The most common and well known top-level domain is .com. We analyzed the top million most popular web URLs in May 2022 and found that nearly 60% had .com for a domain name extension. The second most popular TLD was .net with 15% of the million most popular domain names. Those were the only two TLDs with more than 10% share as the third highest, .org, was only used by 3% of the most popular web sites.
When launching an online business it is important to use a .com extension for your web site and email address domain name. People trust addresses with the .com extension. If they must make a choice among multiple web sites after doing an online search, potential customers almost always choose the site with a .com. Like the importance of location in real estate, the right TLD is vital for the success of any business. If you need help picking a domain name for a new business, contact us at hello@oviedonetworks.com or read more about finding the perfect domain name on our Knowledge page.
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