Top Level Domain
Tags: second level domain, second level domein, secondleveldomein, SLD, TLD, top level domain, topleveldomein.
A top-level domain (also known as TLD) is the ‘domain name on the highest level’. It concerns the extension that is (usually) displayed to the right of an internet domain name (behind the dot). For example, ‘.nl’ is the Dutch TLD. Belgium has ‘.be’ as a domain name extension. Typically, TLDs have two letters taken from ISO 3166-1. This standard provides codes for all countries, territories or major geographic areas.
Since 2012 it has also been possible to request your own generic TLDs. Think of domain name extensions such as .amsterdam, .frl, .vlaanderen or .brussels.
A distinction can be made between different types of TLDs:
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gTLDs, or generic TLDs, usually have three or more characters. These can be divided into:
a. sTLDs, or sponsored Top-Level Domains – sponsored TLDs;
b. uTLDs, or unsponsored TLDs – non – sponsored TLDs;
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ccTLDs, or Country-Code Top-Level Domains, reserved for countries, overseas territories and supranational structures such as the European Union;
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the .arpa TLD (Address and Routing Parameter Area domain), which is reserved for Internet-infrastructure purposes.
Top-level domains must be distinguished from second-level domains (SLD). This is the name for that of the top-level domain, also called ‘subdomain’. The second-level domain of lawfox.nl is then ‘LAWFOX’ of the top-level domain ‘.nl’. So the sub-level domain is equal to the domain name here.
However, this does not have to be the case. Some TLDs have a second level within their top-level domain. For example, to indicate what kind of organization the name has registered. Or for instance, in addition to the extension “.uk”, the United Kingdom has a second-level domain. Therefore, for example “.co” (.co.uk) is reserved for companies such as non-governmental organizations use “.org.uk”.
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