The Origins of TLDs
The original top-level domains were developed in the 1980s and were divided into three groups, Categories, Multi Organizations, and Countries.
Every original TLD had a unique purpose:
Name Entity
.com |Commercial
.org |Organization
.int |Intergovernmental organizations
.edu |Education
.gov |Government agencies
.mil |U.S. military
These days this restrictive practice has been largely lost, the meaning of domain extensions changed, and top-level domains are used in a variety of different ways. Domain registration is mostly open for all, apart from gTLDs assigned for the government, such as .gov and .mil.
So, what are a gTLD and ccTLD anyway, and what’s the difference between them?
• The Origins of TLDs
• How do TLDs work?
• What Are The 5 Most Common Domain Extensions?
• How Do You Create a TLD?
• How to Reserve a Unique URL
• Pre-registering a gTLD
• New Domain Extensions
• Changing Your TLD
• Which TLDs Are Restricted for Use?
• Conclusion
gTLDS
Generic top-level domains, (gTLDs) account for the majority of domain extensions. The most common gTLDs are .com, .org,and .net.
ccTLDs
Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) are location-specific and are generally reserved for countries and some territories. Examples include .us, .co.uk, and .de.
Since 2014, ICANN has released over 2,000 new extensions covering all areas from clubs and hobbies to industry, science and technology, and geographic locations. The addition of new generic top-level domains has taken some of the stress off the original gTLDs.
Interestingly, the mighty .com remains one of the world’s most popular and most recognized gTLD, perhaps because it was one of the original top-level domains. Buyers place huge value on .com domain name price over the new extensions, simply because of its universal recognition.
You can learn more about domain prices in our how much is a domain name blog post.