“What are TLD and SLD?”

Top Level Domain & Second Level Domain

Domain names are references to addresses on the Internet. Much like a postal address or phone number, a Domain Name is divided into parts Each part of that address is separated by a dot ( . ). The letters to the right of the rightmost dot and the left of any single forward slash ( / ) are referencing the Top Level Domain (TLD). There can be additional slashes followed by any number of other characters after the TLD which will direct any web browser (such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Mozilla’s FireFox) to sections or “pages” within the web site. Example:

DomainName.TLD/pages

SLD

A Second Level Domain Extension (SLD) can be placed to the left of the TLD separated by a dot ( . ). Additionally, a dot can be used webmasters to create and attach secondary web sites to their original web site. These are referred to as Sub-Domains. “SLD” is a second level extension, and “TLD” is a top level extension a Domain Name with only a top level extension would be a second level name, not a second level extension. Example:

DomainName.SLD.TLD/pages

There are three basic types of TLD’s Generic Top Level Domains (gTLD’s) are world-wide. Un-sponsored TLDs (uTLDs) are gTLDs such as .COM that are not restricted as anyone around the world may buy and use a .COM domain name.

Sponsored Top Level Domain Names (sTLD’s) are a sub-grouping of Generic TLD’s and are also worldwide but are restricted to use only within a particular industry or other group by its governing body. .TRAVEL for example is a sponsored TLD.

Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLD’s) are country specific and have only 2 letters. The United States has .US domain names available and Canada has .CA . Country codes have very little in the way of governance as some countries are promoting their CC domains as though they were generic or sponsored domains, while many other countries are very restrictive regarding who they allow to buy their country code domain names. View a complete list of Country Code Extensions and *LD’s here.

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