Dynadot Help

Definitions

• What is a gTLD?

  A gTLD is a generic top-level domain. Top-level domain (TLD) refers to what is to the right of the dot in a domain name, sometimes referred to as the domain extension. Generic means that search engines will see it as generic, i.e. having no regional targeting for searches.All generic TLDs are at least three characters or more. The original gTLDs are , , and , which were delegated in 1985. Since then, the number of gTLDs has grown, most recently with the new gTLD delegations starting in 2014.A gTLD is one type or category of TLD that is distinguished by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). Other TLD categories include country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), sponsored top-level domains (sTLDs) and internationalized top-level domains (IDN TLDs).In addition, you may see reference to new TLDs (nTLDs) and regional or geographic TLDs (geoTLDs); however these are both unofficial categories because TLDs that fall into these categories are considered gTLDs*. Another unofficial category is gccTLDs, which are ccTLDs that are considered generic.*Google and other search engines generally consider regional TLDs to be generic for search usage and do not assign any regional targeting to them.

• What is a gccTLD?

  A gccTLD is a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) that is considered generic due to its branding and usage. That's what gccTLD stands for, generic country code top-level domain. gccTLDs are seen by search engines such as Google as generic instead of country-targeted for search.Basically, the top-level domain (TLD) is technically a ccTLD, but it is used and branded as a gTLD, so it's officially a gccTLD! An example of this would be Montenegro's .ME domain, which is branded for personal use, blog use, and it's even used by businesses such as About.me. Obviously the .ME domain is open for registration to anyone, but this alone does not give it it's gccTLD status (many ccTLDs are not restricted) - instead it's the way it is branded and used that gives it this status. And it's not alone...Here is the full list of gccTLDs that Dynadot supports: - Belize - Cocos Islands - Colombia - European Union - Federated States of Micronesia - British Indian Ocean Territory - Laos - Montengro - Seychelles - Tuvalu - Samoa

• What is a restricted TLD?

  A restricted TLD is a top-level domain (TLD) whose registration is limited to people or entities that satisfy certain criteria. Both generic TLDs (gTLDs) and country codes (ccTLDs) can have restrictions. It is up to the TLD's registry to implement restrictions and decide on the criteria for those restrictions.An example of a restricted gTLD is , which is the TLD for New York City and requires a valid New York City address from persons or entities who want to register .NYC. An example of a restricted ccTLD would be , the United States' domain. Registrants for .US must have a presence in the US.You can see which of the TLDs we support have restrictions on our TLD prices page under the "restrictions" column.Please note that some TLDs also have restrictions on what domain names you can register as well as restrictions on setting name servers. For example, requires the registrant to submit documentation to register a domain name. CNNIC, the registry, also reserves the right to delete domain names they find unacceptable. See our Service Agreement for more info.

• What is an IP address?

  IP addresses (also known as Internet Protocol addresses) are the principal communications protocols for the Internet. There are currently two types: IPv4 - a combination of four sets of numbers separated by periods (for example, 207.44.214.87) IPv6 - represented as eight groups of four hexadecimal numbers separated by colons (for example, 2001:0db8:0000:0042:0000:8a2e:0370:7334) The latter was introduced because IPv4 has been exhausted due to the rapid growth of the Internet, since each computer connected to the Internet has a unique IP address. An IP address is used as the computer's ID on the Internet so it can send and receive information from other computers on the network.While computers can store, recall, and work with multiple numbers very easily, humans have trouble remembering random series of numbers. To address this, the Domain Name System (DNS) was created.

• What is DNS?

  DNS stands for Domain Name System (The "S" in DNS can also stand for Service or Server). It specifies how domain names are translated into IP addresses.Since the Internet is based on IP addresses, each time you use a domain name, a DNS server must translate the name into the correct IP address. A DNS server is a computer which takes in a domain name and returns the correct IP address for the domain. This IP address represents the domain's actual location on the Internet.

• Who is ICANN and what do they do?

  ICANN is the acronym for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which is a non-profit organization that is in charge of maintaining and coordinating the Internet, namely the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and the Domain Name System (DNS).ICANN gives out accreditation to domain Registrars (including Dynadot!) and is in charge of managing the launch of the new gTLDs. Find out more about what Dynadot's ICANN accreditation means to you.Check out this video to find out more about what ICANN does:

• What is a domain hack?

  A domain hack is a domain that combines the domain name with the top-level domain (TLD) to spell out a word or saying such as ComeWith.ME.There are many TLDs that can be used to create domain hacks. Most of our new TLDs can be used to create sayings as many of them are words such as .CAB or .HIPHOP. You can create domain hacks such as GrabA.CAB or Ilove.HIPHOP.Check out our list of domain hack TLDs or see our full list of TLDs to find more awesome domain hack opportunities! You can also see more examples in our domain hacks blog post.

• What are sponsored TLDs (sTLDs)?

  Sponsored top-level domains (sTLDs) are a type or category of top-level domain that is distinguished by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). sTLDs are specialized domain extensions that have a sponsor behind them that represents a specific community that the domain will serve. For example, was sponsored by the DotAsia Organization to be a regional domain for Asia and the Pacific.

• What is a geographical top-level domain (geoTLD)?

  A geographical top-level domain or geoTLD is a top-level domain (TLD) that represents a geographical or regional area. An example would be , which represents the Asian continent, or , which represents New York City. All geoTLDs consist of at least three or more characters.GeoTLDs are different from country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). ccTLDs are only two characters and represent countries based on ISO country codes. GeoTLDs can represent cities, provinces, territories, continents, and more. They are considered generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and as a result, they are typically not given regional targeting by search engines.See a list of geographical TLDs that Dynadot supports

• What is a subdomain?

  A subdomain is a subset of a domain name. A domain name typically consists of a top-level domain (TLD) also known as a domain extension (such as ) and a second-level domain (SLD). For example, our domain name is with as our SLD and as our TLD. An example of a subdomain would be with being the subdomain.Please note that a subdomain is not the same as a third-level domain.