A “.com” web address does not mean “communication”. And no, it does not mean “computer” either.

Interestingly enough, .com describes that a web site has some kind of “commercial” intent. This is what we call a “top level domain” address, and it used to be a way for a web site to convey its publishing intent.

When the World Wide Web was launched in 1989, these top level domains were used to help categorize the few hundred web sites at the time. Historically, .com web site addresses were for those publishers out to make some kind of profit through their Internet services.

No, having a .com domain name does not mean your web site is a licensed business. In fact, the Internet registration authorities have expanded their criteria to allow most anyone to have a .com address, whether you have a commercial intent or not.

Today, having a .com domain name has no special significance, other than people perceive it to mean you are a serious Internet web site. Other than perception, .com has no technical difference from a .info or a .biz top level domain name.

Related: there are other top-level domain addresses available to the general public, like .org, which is used to denote “non-profit organization”, and .net, which is generally used to denote “network and computer” topics.

Techno trivia: three-letter top-level domains, like .com, .net, and .gov, are nearly always American web sites. Two-letter domains, like .jp and .ca and .co.uk and .nz, are for other countries other than the USA. These country TLD’s indicate sites that are published from that part of the world, or that the web site owner is a citizen of that country.

Top level domains with more than three letters: Several new domain names, like .info and .shop, have recently become available since 2005. This is in response to the huge growth of the Web, and that domain name addresses were running out.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a Web address. The domain name is mapped to an IP address (which represents a physical point on the Internet). Thus a domain name locates an organization or other entity on the Internet. When someone types a domain name into a Web browser, the requested Web page will open. For example, the domain name www.yourdomain.com locates an Internet address for “yourdomain.com.”

A domain name consists of a top-level and a second-level domain. The “com” part of the domain name generally reflects the type or purpose of the organization or entity and is called the top-level domain (TLD) name. The part of the domain name located to the left of the dot (” . “) - “yourdomain” in this case - is called the second-level domain (SLD) name. The second-level domain name - being the “readable” part of the address - refers to the organization or entity behind the Internet address.

Second-level domain names must be unique on the Internet and registered with an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)-accredited registrar.

What is a top-level domain?

A top-level domain is the part of the domain name located to the right of the dot (” . “). The most common TLDs are .com, .net and .org. Several new top-level domains have been added to the menu recently, including, .biz, .info, .name, and .ws. The top-level domains have certain guidelines attached, but are for the most part available to any registrant, anywhere in the world. Exceptions are the restricted TLDs (rTLDs) - which include .aero, .biz, .edu, .mil, .museum, .name, and .pro - that require the registrant to represent a certain type of entity, or to belong to a certain community. The .name TLD is available strictly for individuals, while .edu is reserved for educational entities, such as universities or high schools. Where appropriate, a top-level domain name can be of geographic significance and hence only available to registrants in the locale defined by the TLD. These are called country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) and include such top-level domains as .bz (Belize),.ca (Canada), .dk (Denmark), .ec (Ecuador), ie (Republic of Ireland), .uk (United Kingdom), .us (United States), and .zw (Zimbabwe).

What is a second-level domain?

Located immediately to the left of the dot (” . “), the second-level domain is the “readable” part of the domain name. The second-level domain is entirely defined by the registrant, and often refers to the organization or entity associated with the IP address. For example: In www.cnn.com “cnn” (Cable News Network) is a second-level domain.

Second-level domains can be divided into further domain levels. For example: www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com. These sub domains sometimes represent different computer servers within departments.

More than one second-level domain name can be used for the same IP address.

The domain name system (DNS) enables each machine connected on the Internet to be recognized by a domain name. Every computer on the Internet has a unique IP (Internet protocol) address which consists of a string of numbers. Since the IP addresses can be difficult to remember, the DNS allows a familiar string of letters (the “domain name”) to be used instead of the IP address. So instead of typing the IP address’ arcane string of numbers you can type, for example, “www.espn.com.”

What does it mean to register a domain name?

The Internet domain name system (DNS) consists of a directory, organized hierarchically, of all the domain names and their corresponding computers registered to particular companies and persons using the Internet. When you register a domain name, it will be associated with the computer on the Internet you designate during the period the registration is in effect.

Note that the above description applies to domains that are registered and hosted. If the registrant elects to, a domain can instead be registered and parked. A parked domain name does not need a DNS affiliation.

What is a name server?