What is a domain name?

A domain name is an address on the Internet through which a website or an e-mail address can be reached.

Domain means something like “area” or “domain”. In the context of the Internet, it means a related part in the DNS (Domain Name System). The system was introduced in order to be able to reach objects such as websites or e-mail addresses via certain easily remembered names.

The Domain Name System is a globally regulated name assignment system. When a domain name is used, it is always associated with an IP address, since every device connected to the Internet worldwide has a unique IP address and can thus be found. Because IP addresses are not easy to remember, the domain name system was introduced.

How is a domain name structured?

Example: www.example.com

A domain consists of several, arbitrarily many subsections, which are to be read from right to left: Top-Level Domain (TLD), Second-Level Domain (SLD), Third-Level Domain and so on.

Top-Level Domain - xxx.xxxxx.com The top-level domain (TLD) is the abbreviation at the end of each domain. It often refers to the geographic location (for example .us for USA) or possibly the intentions of the domain (for example .com for commercial or .org for non-commercial organizations). Since a few years there are countless TLD types of various kinds (.store, .forum, .hello, .inc, and many more), which are all generally usable in the same way as the old known TLD.

Second-level domain - xxxx.example.com

This part of the domain name is often colloquially called “domain name” and is (if not already assigned in the TLD) freely selectable and registerable for use according to the respective terms and conditions of the domain registry responsible for the corresponding TLD. If you register a domain name, you alone are entitled to use it. So you can freely determine any subsection (continuing on the left) and have IP addresses assigned to it. Almost all domain registries charge regular (usually annual) usage fees for the use of the domain name.

Third-level domain - www.example.com

Contrary to what many believe, ‘www’ is not a fixed part of a domain. It is established, but not mandatory. Depending on the third-level domain, other target pages, services or servers can be accessed. For example, Mailix automatically sets up the third-level domains ‘webmail.yourdomain.com’, ‘mailadmin.yourdomain.com’ and ‘mail.yourdomain.com’ for you to use accordingly.

What is the difference between a URL (an internet link) and a domain name?

The domain name is a part of the URL. A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is an address that takes you to a single page on the Internet.

See also:
Wikipedia: Domain name