Domain Name

What Does Domain Name Mean?

A domain name is an Internet resource name that is universally understood by Web servers and online organizations and provides all pertinent destination information. To access an organization’s Web-based services, website users must know the precise domain name.

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Techopedia Explains Domain Name

Domain names are used worldwide, particularly in the world of networks and data communication. The following points explain how they work and how they are used:

  • Domain names have two parts that are separated by a dot, such as example.com.
  • A domain name can be used to identify a single IP address or group of IP addresses.
  • A host or organization may use a domain name as an alternate IP address because domain names are alphanumeric (as opposed to all numbers), making them easier to memorize.
  • A domain name is used as part of a URL to identify a website.
  • The part that follows the dot is the top level domain (TLD), or group to which the domain name belongs. For example, .gov is the TLD for U.S. government domains.
  • The IP address in the domain name’s background is converted to a recognizable, alphanumeric domain name by a system known as the domain name system (DNS).
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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…