Top Level Domains: How They Work And Help Identify Industries In Business

In the past, we have explained how important it is to get a strong, businesslike domain name. Those domain names are just half of the equation, with top-level domains (TLDs) being the second half.

Find out what TLDs are below, how they work and how they are useful for differentiating online industries.

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How TLDs Work

TLDs are the abbreviations that are tagged on the end of a domain name. By far, ‘.com’ is the most popular TLD today, but others include .net, .org or .edu for learning institutions.

On the technical level, TLDs are necessary for the DNS lookup process which is why every domain needs to have one.

Naturally, the use of TLDs has skyrocketed in the past few decades, spurring new and interesting abbreviations with some covered further below. However, most online businesses settle with .com for commercial domain, despite other less popular TLDs being available.

This can be seen with personal blogs, e-commerce stores and iGaming sites where digital casino games are on offer. So, when users play online slots at Paddy’s, their library of themed slot games load with the .com TLD.

As the default TLD, .com is familiar, easy to remember and can indicate to users that a reputable entity operates the website.

Historically, TLDs were managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) who strictly policed .com, .org, .net and other common TLDs. That changed in 2010, resulting in an ever-growing list of unique words being used at the end of certain website URLs.

This also means .com has declined in popularity over time, but it still remains the internet’s favourite TLD. You can find a more comprehensive list of TLDs from services like Namecheap.

How TLDs Are Used By Different Industries

With a basic understanding of TLDs, you can see how different industries choose them. While they serve a technical purpose, the value of a TLD is equally measured in how memorable and appropriate it is for the website’s name.

Some industries don’t have a choice in their TLD, like .edu or .gov for government-backed services. However, other industries opt to choose a more unique TLD that isn’t .com and find success with them.

Thanks to ICANN’s lax restrictions on new TLDs, businesses have used words like .business, .legal, .agency and .travel to best represent what their company is all about. That said, the most popular TLDs are still abbreviations like .dj or .tv, used by music and streaming professionals.

Others use TLDs to put a cute spin on their domain name title, like adding .ly or .io to the end of your site name, or how YouTube uses .be for their ‘youtu.be’ subdomain.

Country Code TLDs Explained

Most of the TLDs mentioned above are actually country code TLDs, meaning they were first created to cater to a specific region. For example, sites in the UK use .co.uk to indicate a site based in Britain.

However, some regions have favourable TLDs that abbreviate nicely to fit an industry. As such, TLDs like .dj (Djibouti), .tv (Tuvalu), .ly (Libya), .io (Indian Ocean) and .be (Belgium) are actually rented out by these nations for use by private entities.

This can be a very profitable business for some countries, especially those with less economic development who can profit from the unique TLD assigned to them.

This is something that the small British Oversea Territory of Anguilla discovered in 2023, when AI mania led to them making millions by renting out the coveted .ai TLD.

Ultimately, a company can decide to attach almost any TLD to their domain name. However, choosing the right one is an important decision that can determine how memorable your website name is, while also signifying what industry you belong in or where you operate.

Disclaimer: The above references an opinion of the author and is for information purposes only. Never gamble for more than you can afford to lose. Gambling can lead to a serious addiction. Gamble responsibly.