Top-Level Domains (TLD)

In 1985, The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) released six top-level domain names. These top-level domains (TLD) became known as domain name extensions and represent the highest level in the Domain Name System hierarchy. They include:

.com: shorthand for commercial, .com was the first top-level domain in common use. While .com was initially created for use by commercial organizations, restrictions on this were not stringent. By the mid-1990s, .com had become the most popular and commonly used type of top-level domain for businesses, websites, and email.

.net: shorthand for the network, .net was created expressly for institutes that partook in network technologies such as an internet service provider or an infrastructure company. Like with .com, the restrictions meant to limit .net to networking purposes was never upheld and it became one of the more popular top-level domains, with many seeing it as a close second to using the .com top-level domain.

.edu: shorthand for education, .edu was made for education institutions. Although it was intended for universities everywhere, the TLD .edu became associated with only educational centers in America. Schools from other countries will use .edu in conjunction with their country-level domain, which we will discuss in the next section below.

.org: shorthand for the organization, .org was created for nonprofits. As we’ve seen with these other top-level domains, such intentions were often not upheld or enforced over time. These days, .ors is used as top-level domain by nonprofits, for-profit businesses, schools, and communities.

.mil: shorthand for military, .mil was created expressly for U.S. military branches. Unlike the other different types of top-level domains, this restriction is still upheld. Now, it is quite common for .mil to use second and third-level domains in conjunction with the .mil TLD.

.gov: shorthand for government, .gov, like .mil, was restricted for American federal governmental agencies and personnel use only. These days .gov is used by governmental agencies, programs, cities, states, towns, counties, and Native American tribes.

.biz is a generic top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is intended for registration of domains to be used by businesses. The name is a phonetic spelling of the first syllable of business.