This article will help you understand some aspects among domains. There are several types of domains (levels). Let's try to understand the situation using “live” examples.
http://www.forum.hostings.info
What is to the left of the "//" signs determines the type of protocol that is used to access the information behind the name (http:// is a standard protocol, and https:// is a secure protocol). But this article is about something else. That leaves www.forum.hostings.info. Here www means the World Wide Web and in many modern sites there is no difference whether we enter www (www.forum.hostings.info) or without it (forum.hostings.info).
Therefore, to make it easier to understand, domain levels can be broken down like this:
Info- first level domain
hostings.info - second level domain
forum.hostings.info - third level domain.
What are the domain levels?
First level
These are domains that are tied to a certain state (ru - Russia, us - USA, kz - Kazakhstan, etc.) or subject (info - information sites, com - commercial, edu - for websites of educational institutions, etc. ). Full list domain zones, rules for their registration, as well as prices from accredited registrars, see.
Second level
This is the site name that can be registered if it is available.
Third level
As a rule, it is used to create separate sites within one large one. For example, on the site so-hosting.info, the third-level domain forum.so-hosting.info would be suitable for the forum. And if we wanted to create a website in different languages, we would make additional websites for this and link them to the following domains: website or ua.hostings.info.
Fourth level and others
There are domains of a higher level, for example level4..level4.. But such domains are not recommended, because they are inconvenient for users and search engines don’t particularly like them.
How to choose a domain wisely?
Domain name restrictions
- Requirement for the size of each part of the domain name - it cannot be longer than 63 characters
- The name cannot use any other characters except letters of the English alphabet of both cases, numbers and a hyphen, which can only be used within the name
- Certain restrictions may be imposed by administrators of national domains - the minimum or maximum length of a name, the inadmissibility of registering names made up of only numbers, and others.
In fact, such rules apply all over the world, with only minor differences. So, if someone wants to register their domain outside the Russian Internet zone, we advise you to carefully read the conditions for registering domains in that country and in the domain that you have chosen for yourself.
Important
Be careful, because registration of second-level domains is carried out for one year. Next, the agreement must be renewed and immediately find out the possibility of registering third-level domains within your domain. All legal nuances, such as who is the owner of a third-level domain, can be found out using special services - Whois (which can be roughly translated as “Who is who”), or you can use a special service on the website
Domain level – the location of a domain in the hierarchical structure of domain names on the Internet.
A domain is a website address or zone name. All computers are identified on the network using an IP address as a sequence of numbers. To access the server it is important to know this address. But one server of a hosting provider (one IP address) can host 1000 websites.
To find the desired site, a domain name system was created. The English name is DNS or Domain Name System. A domain name is easier for users to remember than a sequence of numbers.
The domain name can consist of a sequence of Latin letters or contain numbers, Cyrillic and a hyphen. The hyphen should only appear in the middle of the sequence. Letters are uppercase or lowercase, case does not matter.
There are 3 main types of domains. Let's look at who can own them and how they differ.
First (top) level domains, what they are.
Such domains are also called “first level” or domain zones. Such domains cannot be purchased. They are registered and made available for use by ICANN. New domain zones are constantly emerging, for example .travel
Domain zones are provided to the following countries:
- .ru – Russia;
- .de – Germany;
- .kz – Kazakhstan.
Or indicate the type of organization using the domain:
- .com – for commercial organizations.
- .info – information sites.
- .edu – for educational institutions.
Using them, you can determine where the site is geographically located or what tasks it performs. However, a site in zone.com does not have to be commercial.
Virtual website hosting for popular CMS:
Second level domains.
Domains are registered in one of the first-level zones (country or international domains). They are separated from the domain zone by a dot. The name must be unique within the same zone. The right of ownership is issued for a year, then you need to renew it for a fee.
Third level domains.
Common third-level domains – refer to geographical regional domains. For example.msk.ru, .perm.ru. This domain is useful for local sites, such as news or city portals.
Third-level domains not tied to geo-zones like .msk.ru, spb.ru are also called subdomains or subdomains. Registered with organizations that own second-level domains. One such domain can contain an unlimited number of third domains. The user can set up a subdomain in the hosting control panel.
Example of 1st, 2nd, 3rd level domains.
In domain names, case does not matter..Ru - lead to the same site. For the same reason, you cannot register an existing domain by capitalizing it.
primerdomena.ru and primerdomena.info are located in different zones, both can be registered.
In the examples above, .ru is the domain zone, ipipe and primerdomena are the second-level domain name.
Megatool..ru, (domain zone ru) is an example of a third-level domain.
m.habrahabr.ru – site owner located on a subdomain mobile version site.
Domain names don't have to be short, but they should be easy to remember. Subdomains are suitable for individuals who are not chasing thousands of visitors, or for hosting a forum or additional service on the site.
For organizations, commercial or non-profit, it is better to use second-level domains. They inspire more trust among users and are easier to remember.
When choosing a name for a site, users are faced with another new concept - the domain level. Some say that the third level is bad, others confuse the first with the second. How to correctly determine the levels, and which domain is not liked by search engines? Let's look at the main points.
The following domain classification is commonly used:
First level- these are domains tied to a territory ( rf, ru, ua) or topic ( org, biz, info). These domains are not for sale, as they are distributed between certain zones in which you can register a site.
Second level- a unique part of the address that stands before the first-level domain and is separated from it by a dot. In the address website the second level domain is the name " konstruktorysajtov" Its uniqueness lies in the fact that a second-level domain is registered on one web resource and cannot be used on another site.
Third level- a resource within a second-level domain. site.ucoz.ru- an example of a third-level domain.
Typically, the third level is used when creating a web resource on a site builder or placing individual sites inside a large portal - for example, forum.site.ru. Strictly speaking, www.site.ru- this is also a third-level domain; the second level will be site.ru. Therefore, optimizers advise specifying the address without WWW, since technically www.site.ru is a subdomain site.ru.
There are several features in the definition of a third-level domain. In some countries, there were no second-level domains by definition before: for example, in the UK, until 2014, domain names were used in this form: org.uk, com.uk etc., that is, technically this is already the third level. In this case, the classification shifts one level: forum.site.com.uk will already be a fourth-order domain.
Is level three so bad?
Third-level domains are not held in high esteem by webmasters, but there are no facts proving their inconsistency when promoting a website. Search engines do not pay attention to the domain level. If the site meets certain requirements (domain level is not among them) and contains unique, interesting content, then search engines will return pages of your site in search results, regardless of whether the domain has a second or third level.
Website visitors are not at all interested in the domain level - the main thing is that the address can be remembered and reproduced. But third-level domains are also different. It's one thing if you have site.org.ru- no one will pay attention to the fact that there are some extra words in the address. It’s a different matter if you created a website using a free builder like
The creation of any website goes through several stages, one of which is choosing a domain, registering it and linking it to hosting. The process of selecting a domain name for a website is a creative and very important moment, because not only the popularity of the resource, but also its traffic depends on it. In this article, you will learn what a top-level domain is and how to register it with online hosting.
What is a domain name
This is a unique address for a website that is located in a specific zone and occupies a position in the domain name system (DNS) hierarchy. This hierarchy was developed to simplify the search for sites on the network. In other words, to get to the desired site, you just need to enter its domain name into the address bar of your browser, and not a complex combination of numbers (IP), as was the case with the advent of the World Wide Web.
However, the most sonorous and laconic addresses have long been occupied by large resources. After all, the top-level domain name is keyword, displaying the main direction of the site. Therefore, webmasters are faced with the difficult task of coming up with not only a memorable name, but also fitting it into a short domain name that will be easily remembered by Internet users and attract new visitors every day.
Top level domain
The Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy includes several levels. The highest level in the DNS classification is occupied by a top-level domain, which is also called the first level. Any domain name contains components that are separated by a dot and written in Latin letters. The top-level domain is what is written after the dot in the address bar. For example, .RU, .COM, .BIZ, which indicates the location or subject of the resource. The name of the top-level domain, which is usually used to reflect the main theme and content of the site, is written before the dot sign.
Since the beginning of 2012, free registration of top-level domains has become possible for all users of the World Wide Web, without exception. After this, the creation of websites to make money from advertising became widespread.
Top-level domain classification
Top-level domains are divided into two categories, each of which has its own components:
- Thematic.
- Sponsored.
- Basic.
- Reserved.
- For the development of Internet infrastructure.
- Pseudo-domains (for forwarding mail).
- Outdated domains.
2. National:
- Internationalized country domains.
- Letter country code.
Country code top level domain
Domain names corresponding to a specific zone and designed to reflect the essence of the future site are available for registration to any network user. The main country code top-level domains are as follows:
Prices for a national top-level domain range from 100 to several thousand rubles. As a rule, the price depends on the organization that maintains the domain zone. Therefore, purchasing a Russian top-level domain will cost much less than, for example, purchasing a US zone domain.
It is advisable to select a national domain depending on the intended audience of the future site. Targeting will help to significantly simplify the process of resource optimization and promotion. In addition, the top-level domain name will indicate to site visitors what national zone they are in. For example, this is relevant for online stores that offer services only in their own state.
Top-level domains
It is also customary to classify domains according to the topic and purpose of the future site:
- .COM - for commercial sites and organizations.
- .ORG - for non-profit organizations.
- .NET is a common domain for combining the main resources dedicated to the Internet.
- .BIZ is a domain for business organizations.
- .GOV - for government organizations and structures.
- .NAME - personalized domain.
- .INFO is a domain for an information resource.
Today, you can register a website address using any top-level thematic domain, since the above classification has begun to lose its relevance. As a rule, only country code top-level domains are used for their intended purpose to attract the desired audience.
How to register a domain name
Numerous online resources allow you to register a domain name simultaneously with hosting, which is a platform for storing the content and database of any website. This is not only financially beneficial, but also saves time. One of the most popular hosting services on the RuNet is Reg.
According to current tariffs, registering one domain name in the .RU or .РФ zone will cost 590 rubles per year. However, three addresses for a website on Reg can be purchased for 350 rubles, which is much more profitable.
The monthly payment at the minimum rate for hosting services will be 99 rubles. The basic tariff includes 1 GB of disk space. The tariff, which includes 10 GB of disk space, costs 399 rubles per month and provides significantly more opportunities for webmasters whose goal is to create portals and large resources.
To register on the site, the webmaster will need real passport and contact information and payment for a domain name and hosting. Payment can be made via electronic WebMoney wallet, Qiwi, mobile transfer or replenishment through a payment terminal. The domain name will not become available immediately after registration, but after 12-72 hours, when the DNS databases are completely updated. Therefore, you should be patient.
How to transfer a domain name
If the domain name already exists but is not hosted or is on a different platform, it can be transferred. You can transfer the site address to the Reg website using the automatic domain name transfer system. However, if difficulties arise, you can use the help of your hosting administrator. To do this, you need to send your passport and contact information, which was indicated when registering the domain name, and the website address to the feedback form.
On the Reg website, domain transfer and parking are absolutely free. In addition, the system issues free certificates confirming ownership of a specific user's domain name. This is relevant if the site owner must register as a legal entity.
Many dummies have terrible confusion in their heads regarding concepts such as “domain”, “domain name”, “site domain”, “server domain” etc. What is this? Are they all the same thing or completely different things? You can read many definitions of these concepts on the Internet. Some argue that a domain is a domain name, because it is the name of a website. Others write that the domain is site name, and the domain name is Website address. In short, complete confusion! Everything may be clear to advanced users, but for beginners there is no clarity at all.
Let's figure out these concepts together so that everything settles into place in our brains, once and for all!
We will assume that you have read the article “How the Internet Works” and know that, as a rule, sites are hosted on the disk space of Internet servers of hosting companies.
All computers on the network, including servers of host providers, have their own IP address, which is a sequence of numbers. So, to find any site in world wide web, you need to know the IP address of the server where the site is located.
However, there can be many different websites on the same server or on a different IP address. How to be? Invented to make searching easier Domain Name System(DNS – Domain Name System). This alternative addressing system is more understandable to humans. You give your site a unique name, or in another way, Domain name.
Domain name- this is a unique combination of characters of the Latin alphabet, by which you can identify your site among many others. In addition to letters, a domain can include numbers from 1 to 9 and the hyphen symbols “-”, but a hyphen cannot appear at the beginning or end of the domain. The domain length can be from 2 to 63 characters.
Next, you host your website on a server with a specific IP address. In order to match the symbolic domain name of your website to a specific digital IP address, there are special DNS servers.
DNS server- a program that converts a domain name into a digital IP address and vice versa. The memory of these servers stores extensive tables in which each domain name is assigned an IP address. Remember that one IP address can correspond to many domain names!
Every time you type a domain name into your browser, the DNS service calculates what IP address the name corresponds to and what resource it needs to serve to you. Therefore, the domain name of a website is often called the domain address of the website or the domain name of the server, etc. In essence, they are all the same thing.
A person is much more comfortable using domain names than digital IP addresses.
However, the unique and complete address of the site is its URL(Uniform Resource Locator), which consists of three main elements: Protocol + Domain Name + Path/File. As you can see, a site's domain name is only part of its full Internet address.
Each domain name consists of several parts separated by dots - these are domains of different levels. The number of domain levels is usually limited to two or three. A long domain name and a large number of domain levels are inconvenient to use. The rightmost field is called Top level domain, then, from right to left, the names of lower-level domains follow.
Top level domains
Top level domains are also called domain zones. For example, in the domain name the site , . ru is a top-level domain.
All top-level domains can be divided into two groups:
National or geographic domains, they determine whether a site belongs to a particular country or geographic territory. For example, the domain .ru belongs to Russia, .kz to Kazakhstan, .ua to Ukraine, etc.
Public Domains. They can establish that the site belongs to a certain category or type of activity. For example, .com - commercial, .info - informational, .biz - for business, .org - non-profit, .travel - tourism, etc.
The basis for the Russian Internet zone (Runet) is the domain . RU. It is this that makes it possible to register a variety of domain names for the Runet due to the emergence of second-level domains.
Second level domains
The name of my website blondinka-net.ru is a second-level domain name. Here .RU is a top-level domain. Own name of the website – likbez-net is in second place from the end of the full name. That is why such domains are called second-level domains.
The second and all subsequent domain levels have an important limitation - they must be unique within the group of their parent domain. In other words, there can only be one second-level domain on the Internet likbez-net in the top level domain . ru .
Second level domain names are registered with registrar organizations.
It should be noted that the right to own a second-level domain is issued to an organization or person only for a year; the application must be renewed for each subsequent year.
Third level domains
Third level domains are registered with organizations that own second-level domains.
The owner of a second-level domain has the opportunity to create an unlimited number of addresses of the third and further levels. So, for example, I, as the owner of a second-level domain website, I can create a domain for the forum forum.likbez- net. ru. The result was a third-level domain name, and forum is a third level domain in the zone likbez- net. ru.
Typically, the third-level domain registration service is provided by providers– internet service providers .