When launching an online business, there are some essential steps to take in order to succeed. You need a website and therefore a domain name and a web host (web hosting and DNS zone). These three things allow you to build or publish a website online and therefore start to get visibility.

In today's article, we will look at one of these three points. We will look at the case of domains. We will present the different types of domains that exist and which ones are the most suitable for your activity.

1. Top Level Domains: TLDs

1.1 Generic Top Level Domains: gTLDs

A generic top-level domain or gTLD is intended toinform the type of website one is visiting. Domains are administered byIANA (Internet Assigned Numbers) andICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). A top-level domain is the last level of each qualified domain name.

There are two types of gTLDs:

Firstly, there are the gTLDs reserved for public institutions (government, military, non-profit or educational organisations). These generic top-level domains include, for example, .gov, .edu, .mil, etc.

Secondly, we find the other domains centralised by IANA. These include .com, .net, .info, etc.

This type of domain, domain extension is useful for an international target.

1.2 Geographic or country-specific top-level domains: ccTLDs

ccTLDs are domains used on websites belonging to a specific country (or geographical region). They can be recognised by the two letters associated with the country of origin of the website. These domains are used to increase business in a target country. Indeed, in terms of SEO, these domains offer a better visibility in the specific country.

There are a number of geographical/country-specific areas. Among the most common are the following:

France: .fr

Germany: .de

United Kingdom: .uk

Spain: .es

Canada: .ca

Italy: .it

Switzerland: .ch

Find the complete list of ccTLDs!

Fun Fact: Some ccTLDs are hijacked and used for particular sectors. For example .tv (from Tuvalu) is used by audiovisual websites.

1.3 Internationalised Top Level Domains: IDN ccTLDs

Like ccTLDs, internationalised domains represent a particular geographical area. However, IDN ccTLDs are variants of ccTLDs. In fact, they are the same domains as the geographical ones but containing characters not belonging to the Latin alphabet. For example, for Egypt, the ccTLD is: .eg and in Arabic we have: .مص

These domains are often used for specific targets in countries. To be able to communicate with the company in a specific country. They can be interesting in an international strategy.

2. The second level domains: LTC

Second-level domains or SLDs refer to the domain name before the top-level domain or TLD. For example, the TLD of Digidop.fr is .fr and its SLD is digidop.

It is also possible to use second-level domains with a top-level domain to indicate the type of entity that should be registered under the SLD. For example, a French business enterprise can register with a .co.fr domain.

3. Third level areas

There are also third level domains. In fact, just like the second level domain for the top level domain, the third level domain is the one that is positioned before the LDS.

To take an example: let's imagine that we have a ccSLD .co.fr. If we want to register the domain name digidop.co.fr then "digidop" will be considered a third level domain. Again, this is where you can put your business name. This domain is still less used.

4. The sub-domains

Apart from TLDs, SLDs or third-level domains, there are also sub-domains. As the name suggests, these are subsets of the various domain types.

Subdomains are easily identified because they are created by adding characters before the domain name. For example, https://blog.digidop.fr could be a subdomain. They are convenient because they allow you toorganize the content of your website into different sections. However, you should know that from an SEO point of view, the sub-domain is considered a bit "separate" from your main domain name. Thus, your website will not benefit from the maximum popularity of your subdomain.

These domains are the basis of international SEO strategies. In any case, when you choose your domain name, you should not do it lightly and think long-term.