Domain names are the addresses of websites that people can type in the browser URL bar to visit your website. They are significantly easier to remember than IP addresses which are a series of numbers.
A domain name is a website address that people can use to access the site manually. The domain name comprises several parts: a top-level domain (TLD), a second-level domain (SLD), and possibly additional subdomains. For example, in the domain name www.example.com, “example” is the SLD, “com” is the TLD, and “www” is a subdomain.
A domain name is comparable to the address of your professional website. It’s how people find you online. Just as your physical address lets people know where you live, a domain helps customers find your business online. A domain name is what all internet users can use to access your website. It can be any combination of letters and numbers and can be used with different domain name extensions, like .com, .net, and .biz.
But how does a domain name work, and what makes it different from an IP address? Read on and find out:
How Does a Domain Name Work?
Any name that is registered within the DNS is considered a domain name. Domain names are always organized in subdomains of the DNS root domain, which is nameless. The first-level set of domain names includes generic top-level domains, like the popular domains com, info, net, edu, and org, as well as the country code top-level domains. Below the mentioned top-level domains in the DNS hierarchy would be the second-level and third-level domain names that are usually open for reservation by end-users who want to connect local area networks to the net, create publicly accessible Internet resources, or run websites.
The registration of domain names is often administered by domain name registrars offering their services to the public.
An important use of domain names is to give easy-to-recognize and remember names to otherwise numerically addressed Internet resources. This abstraction lets any resource to be moved to a different physical location in the address topology of the network, either internationally or locally, in an intranet. This particular move usually requires changing the IP address of a resource as well as the corresponding translation of this IP address to and from its domain name.
Domain names are used as straightforward identification labels that indicate resource control. However, in some cases, they may also be used to indicate the resource type, as in the case of the .com top-level domain, which is typically used for commercial sites, or the .edu top-level domain, which is often used for educational sites.
What Makes a Domain Name Different from an IP Address?
You already know what a domain name is, so we’re discussing what an IP address is.
An IP address refers to a numerical label that is assigned to every device, whether it’s a computer, a laptop, a printer, or something else participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.
So, a domain name is simply an identification string used to define a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control within the Internet, while an IP address is a numerical label that is assigned to a certain device participating in a computer network.
Conclusion
A domain name is a unique name that identifies a website on the Internet. By contrast, an IP address is a numerical label assigned to every device connected to a computer network. Domain names are much easier for people to remember than IP addresses, and they are also used to access professional websites regardless of the physical location of the server that hosts the website.
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