Glossary of IT terms: What is a domain? This is the first step to your own website
A domain is an address where your website is located
The Internet is like a big city, connected by a network of streets and roads. Each web page represents one house in it. And every such house must of course have its own address. Otherwise, even a seasoned postman would get lost here. That address is exactly the Internet domain.
An Internet domain is simply what follows www… For example, our domain is webglobe.com.
In IT discourse, a domain (or more precisely a domain name) stands for an IP address.
This is a complex numerical code assigned to each device connected to the Internet. Under it, you will also find the server on which your website is located. But such a number would be difficult to remember. And that’s why domains were created.
Is a URL the same as an Internet domain?
Internet domain, IP address, URL address… Everything is somehow related, but it can be a bit confusing for a newbie.
Webglobe.com is a domain, but www.webglobe.com/domains is already a URL address.
So what is the main difference?
The URL address is the complete entry of the www page, which you can find in the search bar.
In addition to that initial www, part of the URL is the domain name and also the address of a specific subpage, listed after the slash.
This article has a URL address: www.webglobe.com/blog/what-is-a-domain. If you want to buy a domain from Webglobe, just type www.webglobe.com/domains into your search engine.
What is an internet domain and what is a URL? A domain is the address of your website, which you type into your browser using a URL.
Domain Levels: How Do They Affect Your Site’s Price and Your Site’s Success?
Just as your home address is made up of a street, house number, and routing number, a domain name is made up of different levels. There are 3 in total:
TLD or First Level Domain
The most general part of the domain that your website shares with thousands and thousands of others is the TLD (Top Level Domain). Technically, it is called a first-order domain or the so-called “end”.
TLD is something like a routing number. Thanks to it, the postman knows which direction to go after your domain.
A national domain is one option, but you have others
Most countries have their own ending for domains. Germany’s national domain is .DE, Great Britain’s is .UK, etc.
In addition to national domains, there are also other geographic domains, such as .EU for the whole of Europe, or vice versa, such as .WIEN just for Vienna.
However, that doesn’t mean that you have to have an Austrian domain just because you’re building a site in Austria. No law binds you to do so.
Feel free to use any TLD:
And if you really want to stand out with your domain name, go for something funnier, like .BEER, .SPACE, .HOCKEY, .PIZZA. You can explore all other TLD domains here.
The TLD basically determines how much the domain registration will cost you. Domain endings are rented just like land in the city. And like cities, first-order domains are variously lucrative. If you’re wondering how much the domain you’re interested in costs, check out the list of endings.
There is no law against this, but we still recommend it: in our national domain .CZ is the best for a Czech website. Visitors simply write .CZ to pages automatically.
You may already know what a second-order domain is
The second-level domain is the name of your website. So in our case it is Webglobe.
This section determines your brand’s success with your customers so choose the name wisely.
You can let your imagination run wild, and if your dream domain is available, don’t hesitate to register.
Registering a domain is as easy as shopping at the supermarket.
What should your domain look like so that you are really visible on the Internet? This article will help you choose the best name.
Third order domain
No, the third-order domain is not the www. you might expect. Your house can have multiple entrances. And so can your website.
The domain of the third order practically serves to extend its own domain to subdomains. It helps you keep your website more organized.
For example, you can use it to:
- have multiple language variants on one website (sk.web.com, eng.web.com, etc.)
- split own website and e‑shop (eshop.web.com)
- separate the blog from the rest of the website (blog.web.com, magazin.web.com)
How do domains work when searching for a website on the Internet?
Now that we have a basic understanding of what a domain is, we can refine our definition a bit and see how domains work.
The second most important term, right after the domain, is web hosting. The next part of the Glossary of IT terms will be devoted to it in detail. But now let’s talk about at least a basic definition: web hosting is the place where your website is stored.
So a domain is an address that clearly identifies this place in the entire web of the Internet.
Therefore, one without the other means nothing. A domain without web hosting is just an empty address and web hosting without a domain is just an inaccessible hard drive.
So what happens the moment someone types your domain URL into a search engine? How does a website stored on your web hosting get to the monitor of a foreign computer?
The computer must first translate the domain into an IP address. The key to the IP address is guarded by the DNS server. It sends a request to the server on which your web hosting is running, and from there the data is sent back to the computer, which together make up your website.
What is a domain without web hosting? Just a blank address. That’s why we offer both nicely together. When ordering web hosting from us, you can choose a domain right away.
