The caste system in the Domain Name!

We normally condemn the way the caste system has divided society. But, on the Internet, we’ve quite adapted this terminology to help explain the optimized use of domain name extensions.

On the Internet, domain extensions can be classified as the caste of a brand. And, by caste, we tend to imply the nature/niche of the brand/ entity on the Internet. 

For instance, business and profit-oriented brands such as Apple and Google use a .com. And NGOs use .org to convey the fact that they are an organization. This classification allows the consumers to easily understand the niche of the website they are visiting. 

The caste system of the Internet classifies domain extensions based on hierarchical needs. It has 4 types of domains:

1. Root-level Domain:

On the basis of hierarchy, Root Domain is top of the line level domain of a website. It differentiates the top-level domains by a dot.

For example, our root domain is nexgi.com.

2. Top-level Domain:

Top-Level domains are the most preferred domain extensions for a website. And, the caste system classifies the domain extensions into traditional and modern domain names.

A.Traditional Domain Extension classification

• .Com Extension: .Com stands for dot commercial. Commercial brands and websites commonly use it as their domain extension. It’s generic and easy to remember. 

For instance, we, at NexGen Innovators, use .com as our top-level domain.

• .Net Extension: It extends to .net. It is an alternative to dot com. Commercial brands and websites commonly use it as an alternative domain extension to .net.

For instance, behance.net is the best example. 

• .IN Extension: It extends .in (country = India) domain. It is a country-level domain classification. Country subsidiaries of a brand or country-wide influential brands use it the most.

Now, the most common conception around this domain extension is that .in can only be used in India. But, it can be used anywhere in the world. For instance, you could in the United Kingdom. But, you can still visit and shop from Amazon.in

For instance, Google.in is the country-wide top-level domain used for Google India. 

• .Org Extension: It stands for an organization domain. Organizations of multiple niches across the world use this domain extension. Mostly, Non-profit organizations and boards prefer to use it. 

• .Co Extension: It stands as a viable alternative option such as.Co extension. And, mostly huge corporations and firms use this domain extension as it states seriousness. Corporations also use it as a secondary domain to their country domains.

• Gov Extension: Used by Government agencies and entities alike. Using a . Gov extension at the end allows the citizens and netizens to differentiate between authentic . Government portals and the shady ones. 

B.Modern Domain Classification

The modern domain classification, though, is quite different. Brands/Companies use their niche as a domain extension. The best examples of the same are:

• .Media: Media companies use . Media extension at the end of their name to make it easier for brands to redirect their customers to their brand.

• .IO: Technology and SaaS companies use . the IO extension at the end of their name. It defines a niche to the brand and talks to the consumer about the brand.

• .Store: Used by eCommerce brands or stores as their domain extension. It allows the consumers to classify the brand as a store and increases brand recall value.

3. Domain Name:

It is the name that the brands or the entities use alongside their top-level domain to help the consumers/netizens to easily reach out to the brand/entity.

The domain name can contain any word in it and it depends on the brand/entity to choose it. Often brands prefer to choose names that are easy to remember and type. The domain name matters as it provides an identity to the website. We’ve curated a story for you that talks about 20 factors that need to be considered whilst purchasing a perfect domain name. 

Do read it for a wider perspective.

4. Sub-Domain:

Domain names connected to the branches of a website are called sub-domain. It depends on the brands/entity and the requirement. Thus, They are also called as Second-Level domains.  They are placed at the left of the domain name and are separated by a dot(.).

Brands/entities often use it to provide an easy pathway to specific pages and make it easier for the user to reach out to their brand/entity better.

 For instance, docs.google.com allows you to use google documents. Here, word docs is a sub-level domain, Google is a domain name and .com is the top-level domain. With the root domain being Google.com.

Similarly, brands/entities use domain names that deem fit to their purpose. For instance, a few brands use blog.brandname.com to make it easier for their consumers to visit and read their blogs from the blogs section.

You could use an infinite number of second-level domains for your website.

The binding glue-Domain Name System:

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the binding glue that makes it possible for the computer to understand the human word representations of a website and redirect them to the ip-address.

This means, that DNS makes it easier for humans as they only have to remember the word representation. Similarly, it teaches the computer to interpret the word presentation to understand the proper ip-address.

We hope that reading this article made you happy and provided an insight into the caste system in the domain name. Do let us know if you have any questions via the comments section down below. 🙂