Web hosting sites often throw around the term Top Level Domain (TLD). Not many know what that acronym means, but knowing about and choosing the right one can be vital for determining how well your site ranks on search engines.
You might be asking, “What is a Top Level Domain?” A TLD is the phrase — generally three letters — that follows the final dot of a domain name. For example, google.com has the TLD .com. Usually when people think of websites, they instinctively think of .com, however .com is not the only possible TLD. Domain vendors such as GoDaddy and Namecheap have other options that you may have heard before such as .org, .gov, .edu. Each was made for specific purchasers and can improve SERP rankings when used correctly.
When buying a domain for a business, you typically want to look at .com domains. .com was originally created for commercial businesses. While anyone can buy a .com domain, it generally is better for business owners. If your business is an organization you would want to look at .org domains. .edu for education, .gov for government, and so on.
“Why care though?”, you might be asking. There is good reason. Similarly to what we learned in class today, domains can have more authority over others. In the same way, some TLDs have more authority than others. For example, a site registered with .gov will have much more authority than one registered with .xyz. This choice can make or break your SEO, so make sure to choose the right TLD for the right application.
~ Rob
SOURCES: https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/dns/top-level-domain/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains
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