Choose a domain zone
More than 24 years have passed since the invention of domain names (and 18 from the creation of the World Wide Web), and people still have not fully mastered the issue of choosing a domain name for the site.
An absurd superstition is still widespread that third-level domains are less attractive than second-level domains; moreover, not so long ago I had to come across claims that the domain in the .info zone is indecent - and why? just because of the low price!
For those who still do not feel confident enough in this matter, as well as for some of those who feel quite confident, I decided to tell you what considerations, in my opinion, should be followed when choosing a domain zone.
The zone should be selected based on the purpose of the resource and adhering to the semantics of top-level domains.
A domain name consists of several words separated by periods. By the number of these words (which I will call steps), the domain level is determined : for example, google.com is a second-level domain; www.google.com or google.com.ua - the third; images.google.com.ua - the fourth. The hierarchy falls from right to left. In particular, the rightmost step is called a top-level domain.
As a rule, a domain can be divided into three main semantic parts:
Examples:
This article is devoted to the choice of a domain zone.
The domain zone, as you noticed, can consist of one step (in this case, it coincides with the top-level domain) or two. More than two are rare.
Top-level domains ( TLDs ) are formally divided into country domains ( ccTLDs ), general purpose domains ( gTLDs ), and service domains ( iTLDs ). The latter will not be useful to us.
Among the general-purpose domains there are some domains allocated according to linguistic, cultural or territorial characteristics, therefore I suggest ccTLD and gTLD to be regrouped into territorial-language and thematic domain zones.
These domains are for specific countries, languages, or cultures.
Rule: the territorial-language zone should be chosen when the resource is focused on residents of one country or speakers of one language or one culture. For example, this is a purely Russian-language website or the website of a company operating within Ukraine.
Country domains always consist of two letters and, with rare exceptions, obey the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard:
General-purpose domains allocated on a cultural or territorial basis (a number of such top-level domains are under consideration - they are marked with asterisks):
Some of the territorial-linguistic zones impose certain requirements on registrants. For example, in the zone of Ukraine, you can register a domain only if you have the same name brand. Other countries allow everyone to register domains, including residents or citizens of other countries.
These are, in short, those gTLDs that are not referred to above as territorial-linguistic. They all consist of more than two letters and define some sphere of activity.
Rule: a thematic domain zone should be chosen when the resource fully (or at least mainly) matches its purpose.
Many gTLDs have one historically developed and very unpleasant limitation for us: they are intended only for the United States . So, gov means US government organizations, mil means US military departments. These domains are marked with asterisks (and, in addition, I have doubts about aero, jobs, travel).
How to be the rest of the countries described in the next subsection; here it should also be noted that thematic domains that are not subordinate to the States imply, on the contrary, universality or internationality . That is, net is an organization that provides network services at the international level; biz is a commercial organization whose activities are not limited to one country.
Rule: register a domain in a worldwide (international) thematic zone only if its audience or activity is really not limited to one country.
Some domain zones require compliance with the declared topics for registration; some allow everyone to register. Unlike countries, this most often leads to negative consequences when sites are registered in the zone that are absolutely inconsistent with its purpose. The best-known example is the .com domain, which is intended for commercial organizations, but does not impose appropriate restrictions; as a result, everything was registered in it, it was crowded, completely lost its purpose and was rethought as a general-purpose domain; de facto .com began to be considered an abbreviation of common (common), and the .com original function was called upon to fulfill .biz, in which the necessary (albeit soft) restrictions on registration are already present.
Rule: registering a domain in a thematic domain zone that does not correspond to its purpose is bad.
Some of the ccTLDs are also often used as thematic because of harmony, for example:
This is sometimes even officially supported by organizations that manage the domains, and by the states themselves (such as Tuvalu).
Rule: it is possible to register a domain in a consonant zone if you really want to.
In most ccTLDs, there are second-level domains that duplicate some thematic zones, such as .net.ua, .com.ua, .biz.ua. However, not all domains composed of a combination of gTLD and ccTLD are domain zones: for example, info.ru was acquired by a certain Valentina Nikolaeva before the creation of .info and did not become a domain zone.
On the other hand, some second-level domains that are not combinations of gTLD and ccTLD are domain zones (for example, .in.ua - is used for registering à la music.in.ua domains (English is “music in Ukraine”)).
In some countries, regionally-themed domain zones may have slightly changed names: for example, in the UK .co.uk is used instead of .com.uk.
Regional thematic zones may have their registration restrictions: for example, .edu.ua allows registration not only to any educational institutions of Ukraine, but only to higher ones, and not lower than the third level of accreditation.
It is regional-thematic zones that are needed when the thematic domain is limited to the United States (.gov - the US government, .gov.ua - the Ukrainian government, .gov.us - not used).
It is regional-thematic zones that should be used when the resource exactly corresponds to one of the thematic zones, but is not intended for a worldwide (international) scale.
An example of a poor choice in this case is the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar, whose site was first located in the domain kyivstar.net, and recently moved to kyivstar.ua.
In whata mistake ? The first domain means “a company providing network services at the global or international level”; the second domain means "a company providing a very wide range of services in Ukraine." Both of them do not correspond to the activities of the company.
What are the options ? Kyivstar.mobi or kyivstar.mobi.ua are wrong, because .mobi is a zone of sites optimized for mobile devices, not mobile operators. Kyivstar.biz.ua means "commercial enterprise in Ukraine" and does not contain a sufficient indication of the subject; There remains the option kyivstar.net.ua, which should be chosen in this case.
Rule: when the resource meets both the purpose of the thematic domain and the specialization in a particular country, the domain should be registered in the regional-thematic zone.
In the absence of a suitable regional-thematic zone (imagine that the .net.ua zone would not exist, and our choice would be limited to kyivstar.net and kyivstar.ua) it is rather difficult to make a decision; perhaps, in this particular case, kyivstar.ua would be better, but not the fact that in other situations the domain in the thematic zone would not be preferable.
These second level domains are intended for certain regions of the country. For example, .lugansk.ua - Lugansk region of Ukraine; .crimea.ua - Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The principle of selection is approximately the same as for the territorial zone, only with a narrowing to a separate region of the country. It should be remembered that thematic subzones (such as .biz.kiev.ua), as a rule, do not exist.
Rule: in a subregional zone, a domain should be registered if the orientation of the resource to the region significantly outweighs the thematic.
Long subregional zones, at least in Ukraine, may have brief synonyms:
It can be assumed that not all countries have similar subregional zones.
So, in order to choose the right domain zone, you must first answer the following questions:
Then you can make a decision, guided by the above rules and, in conflict cases, thoughtfully setting priorities.
There is nothing shameful in using the .info zone if your site is an information blog, or .biz.ua if you carry out commercial activities within Ukraine, no. If you wish, you can call resources in zones such as .narod.ru or .na.by (there was not enough money for a domain), but not correctly selected domains, regardless of registration price and domain level.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you want to create a personal website(for a personal blog or portfolio, for example), then there is nothing to choose here. There is a .name zone for this. It is possible to register third-level domains of the form vasia.pupkin.name in it, while automatically receiving an e-mail of the form vasia@pupkin.name. The second-level domain pupkin.name in this case remains publicly available to all other Pupkins who wish to register.
Registrars often do not allow you to bind a domain to a hosting, limiting yourself to a redirect (when you log in to vasia.pupkin.name, you transfer the user to pupkin.narod.ru). However, not so long ago, for the .name zone, the usual option was also available with registering a second-level domain and linking to hosting.
And also, remember: after choosing and registering a domain, do not forget to register similar domains in all other available zonesto avoid fraud. If your domain is called pupkin.com.ua, users may mistakenly try to log in, for example, to pupkin.com or pupkin.ua; Naturally, it will not be very good if these domains belong to scammers harvesting from the popularity of your resource.
Good luck choosing a domain!
An absurd superstition is still widespread that third-level domains are less attractive than second-level domains; moreover, not so long ago I had to come across claims that the domain in the .info zone is indecent - and why? just because of the low price!
For those who still do not feel confident enough in this matter, as well as for some of those who feel quite confident, I decided to tell you what considerations, in my opinion, should be followed when choosing a domain zone.
The basic principle
The zone should be selected based on the purpose of the resource and adhering to the semantics of top-level domains.
Brief educational program
A domain name consists of several words separated by periods. By the number of these words (which I will call steps), the domain level is determined : for example, google.com is a second-level domain; www.google.com or google.com.ua - the third; images.google.com.ua - the fourth. The hierarchy falls from right to left. In particular, the rightmost step is called a top-level domain.
As a rule, a domain can be divided into three main semantic parts:
- Domain zone
The right part of the domain name, which includes one or two (more - rarely) steps. It is not the property of the resource, but a public domain intended for registration of domain names in it. - Resource Name
The name of the resource. For example, if this is a corporate website, then the name of the company. Usually contains one step. - Subdomain
Optional left side of the domain name. Designates a separate subsection of a resource that contains logically separate information or fulfills its distinguished role. For example, the resource may contain ftp subdomains for the FTP server, www for the main site, forum for the forum, etc.
Examples:
| google.com | - | com | |
| google.com.ua | - | com.ua | |
| images.google.com.ua | images | com.ua | |
| vasia.pupkin.name | - | vasia.pupkin | name |
| ftp.pupkin.narod.ru | ftp | pupkin | narod.ru |
This article is devoted to the choice of a domain zone.
Classification of domain zones
The domain zone, as you noticed, can consist of one step (in this case, it coincides with the top-level domain) or two. More than two are rare.
Top-level domains ( TLDs ) are formally divided into country domains ( ccTLDs ), general purpose domains ( gTLDs ), and service domains ( iTLDs ). The latter will not be useful to us.
Among the general-purpose domains there are some domains allocated according to linguistic, cultural or territorial characteristics, therefore I suggest ccTLD and gTLD to be regrouped into territorial-language and thematic domain zones.
Territorial-language domain zones
These domains are for specific countries, languages, or cultures.
Rule: the territorial-language zone should be chosen when the resource is focused on residents of one country or speakers of one language or one culture. For example, this is a purely Russian-language website or the website of a company operating within Ukraine.
Country domains always consist of two letters and, with rare exceptions, obey the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard:
| ua | Ukraine |
| ru | Russia |
| us | United States |
| uk | Great Britain |
| eu | European Union |
| im | Isle Of Man |
| tv | Tuvalu |
| fm | Federated States of Micronesia |
General-purpose domains allocated on a cultural or territorial basis (a number of such top-level domains are under consideration - they are marked with asterisks):
| cat | Catalonia |
| asia | Asia |
| berlin * | Berlin |
| lat * | Latin America |
| nyc * | New York |
| bzh * | Brittany |
| cym * | Wales |
| gal * | Galicia (Spain) |
| sco * | Scotland |
Some of the territorial-linguistic zones impose certain requirements on registrants. For example, in the zone of Ukraine, you can register a domain only if you have the same name brand. Other countries allow everyone to register domains, including residents or citizens of other countries.
Thematic domain zones
These are, in short, those gTLDs that are not referred to above as territorial-linguistic. They all consist of more than two letters and define some sphere of activity.
Rule: a thematic domain zone should be chosen when the resource fully (or at least mainly) matches its purpose.
| com | Actually the domain of general purpose. |
| biz | Commercial organizations. |
| net | Network service providers. |
| gov * | Government organizations. |
| mil * | Military departments. |
| edu * | Educational institutions. |
| aero | Airlines |
| jobs | Recruitment organizations. |
| travel | Travel agencies and travel agencies. |
| coop * | Cooperatives. |
| mobi | Sites optimized for mobile devices. |
| museum | Museums |
| info | Information sites. |
| org | Nonprofit organizations. |
| name | Individual people or characters. |
| pro | Certified professionals (e.g. doctors or lawyers) |
Many gTLDs have one historically developed and very unpleasant limitation for us: they are intended only for the United States . So, gov means US government organizations, mil means US military departments. These domains are marked with asterisks (and, in addition, I have doubts about aero, jobs, travel).
How to be the rest of the countries described in the next subsection; here it should also be noted that thematic domains that are not subordinate to the States imply, on the contrary, universality or internationality . That is, net is an organization that provides network services at the international level; biz is a commercial organization whose activities are not limited to one country.
Rule: register a domain in a worldwide (international) thematic zone only if its audience or activity is really not limited to one country.
Some domain zones require compliance with the declared topics for registration; some allow everyone to register. Unlike countries, this most often leads to negative consequences when sites are registered in the zone that are absolutely inconsistent with its purpose. The best-known example is the .com domain, which is intended for commercial organizations, but does not impose appropriate restrictions; as a result, everything was registered in it, it was crowded, completely lost its purpose and was rethought as a general-purpose domain; de facto .com began to be considered an abbreviation of common (common), and the .com original function was called upon to fulfill .biz, in which the necessary (albeit soft) restrictions on registration are already present.
Rule: registering a domain in a thematic domain zone that does not correspond to its purpose is bad.
Some of the ccTLDs are also often used as thematic because of harmony, for example:
| fm | Federated States of Micronesia | radio |
| tv | Tuvalu | a television |
| im | Isle Of Man | instant messengers |
| md | Moldova | the medicine |
This is sometimes even officially supported by organizations that manage the domains, and by the states themselves (such as Tuvalu).
Rule: it is possible to register a domain in a consonant zone if you really want to.
Regionally-themed domain zones
In most ccTLDs, there are second-level domains that duplicate some thematic zones, such as .net.ua, .com.ua, .biz.ua. However, not all domains composed of a combination of gTLD and ccTLD are domain zones: for example, info.ru was acquired by a certain Valentina Nikolaeva before the creation of .info and did not become a domain zone.
On the other hand, some second-level domains that are not combinations of gTLD and ccTLD are domain zones (for example, .in.ua - is used for registering à la music.in.ua domains (English is “music in Ukraine”)).
In some countries, regionally-themed domain zones may have slightly changed names: for example, in the UK .co.uk is used instead of .com.uk.
Regional thematic zones may have their registration restrictions: for example, .edu.ua allows registration not only to any educational institutions of Ukraine, but only to higher ones, and not lower than the third level of accreditation.
It is regional-thematic zones that are needed when the thematic domain is limited to the United States (.gov - the US government, .gov.ua - the Ukrainian government, .gov.us - not used).
It is regional-thematic zones that should be used when the resource exactly corresponds to one of the thematic zones, but is not intended for a worldwide (international) scale.
An example of a poor choice in this case is the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar, whose site was first located in the domain kyivstar.net, and recently moved to kyivstar.ua.
In whata mistake ? The first domain means “a company providing network services at the global or international level”; the second domain means "a company providing a very wide range of services in Ukraine." Both of them do not correspond to the activities of the company.
What are the options ? Kyivstar.mobi or kyivstar.mobi.ua are wrong, because .mobi is a zone of sites optimized for mobile devices, not mobile operators. Kyivstar.biz.ua means "commercial enterprise in Ukraine" and does not contain a sufficient indication of the subject; There remains the option kyivstar.net.ua, which should be chosen in this case.
Rule: when the resource meets both the purpose of the thematic domain and the specialization in a particular country, the domain should be registered in the regional-thematic zone.
In the absence of a suitable regional-thematic zone (imagine that the .net.ua zone would not exist, and our choice would be limited to kyivstar.net and kyivstar.ua) it is rather difficult to make a decision; perhaps, in this particular case, kyivstar.ua would be better, but not the fact that in other situations the domain in the thematic zone would not be preferable.
Subregional Domain Zones
These second level domains are intended for certain regions of the country. For example, .lugansk.ua - Lugansk region of Ukraine; .crimea.ua - Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The principle of selection is approximately the same as for the territorial zone, only with a narrowing to a separate region of the country. It should be remembered that thematic subzones (such as .biz.kiev.ua), as a rule, do not exist.
Rule: in a subregional zone, a domain should be registered if the orientation of the resource to the region significantly outweighs the thematic.
Long subregional zones, at least in Ukraine, may have brief synonyms:
| Lugansk | lugansk.ua | lg.ua |
| Ivano-Frankivsk | ivano-frankivsk.ua | if.ua |
| Nikolaev (Mikolaiv) | nikolaev.ua | mk.ua |
It can be assumed that not all countries have similar subregional zones.
Domain zone selection
So, in order to choose the right domain zone, you must first answer the following questions:
- Is the resource focused on one of the topics corresponding to the thematic zones?
- If so, is this thematic area limited to US jurisdiction?
- Is the scope or audience of the resource limited to any country?
- If yes, and if there are subregional zones in this country, is the scope of activity or the audience of the resource limited to one of the regions of this country?
- If the answers to the 1st and 3rd questions are positive, is there a regional thematic zone corresponding to the thematic and regional zones selected in paragraphs 1 and 3?
Then you can make a decision, guided by the above rules and, in conflict cases, thoughtfully setting priorities.
There is nothing shameful in using the .info zone if your site is an information blog, or .biz.ua if you carry out commercial activities within Ukraine, no. If you wish, you can call resources in zones such as .narod.ru or .na.by (there was not enough money for a domain), but not correctly selected domains, regardless of registration price and domain level.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you want to create a personal website(for a personal blog or portfolio, for example), then there is nothing to choose here. There is a .name zone for this. It is possible to register third-level domains of the form vasia.pupkin.name in it, while automatically receiving an e-mail of the form vasia@pupkin.name. The second-level domain pupkin.name in this case remains publicly available to all other Pupkins who wish to register.
Registrars often do not allow you to bind a domain to a hosting, limiting yourself to a redirect (when you log in to vasia.pupkin.name, you transfer the user to pupkin.narod.ru). However, not so long ago, for the .name zone, the usual option was also available with registering a second-level domain and linking to hosting.
And also, remember: after choosing and registering a domain, do not forget to register similar domains in all other available zonesto avoid fraud. If your domain is called pupkin.com.ua, users may mistakenly try to log in, for example, to pupkin.com or pupkin.ua; Naturally, it will not be very good if these domains belong to scammers harvesting from the popularity of your resource.
Good luck choosing a domain!