It is hard to imagine how modern life would work without the Internet. While you can use it easily enough, you might not know how it’s been organized. There is the organizational scheme used by computers to talk to each other over the Internet, but that isn’t much use to humans. So there is a second level of plain text organization made up of domain names. Every distinct website has its own domain name so people can find it easily.

One of the standardized components of domains are its top level domain (TLD). The TLD represents the broadest division within the naming system under which that website has been placed. You can see it of any web address; it’s the last text string after the farthest right period. This means that “. Com” is the TLD in the web address of YouTube.com.

The list of TLDs available is managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). It has distributed authority for their management to an array of various organizations throughout the world. Domain names can be purchased through a variety of commercial organizations, who work with these ICANN authorized groups to ensure no domain names are used twice. The variety of these words helps expand the volume of domain names available by enabling the same text string (say “MyAwesomeWebsite”) to exist on multiple TLDs while each represents a unique website.

The first collection was divided into three main divisions: countries, categories, and multi-organizations. The original category options were COM, NET, EDU, GOV, MIL, and ORG. Each one represented a general site type. The most popular one for domain names has historically been COM (commercial) intended for business interests, but in reality available for use by anyone.

Some of these category endings were more restrictive as to what kind of sites could use it. For example, EDU, which stands of education, was only available to sites operated by educational institutions. The modern name for these category options is generic top level domain (gTLD). As the Internet has grown, the list of gTLDs has also grown. A number of new categories have been approved by ICANN for use. Some examples are BIZ (restricted to businesses), NAME (intended for private individuals), and INFO. In some cases, industry specific gTLDs have been created, like TEL and AERO.

Geographic code options have also increased in number. When this type was first created, they were primarily two letter combinations, such as MX (Mexico) or EU (European Union). The geographic codes are now formally known as country code TLDs (ccTLD). Countries speaking languages that aren’t written in Latin letters have started getting ones in their own alphabets approved. This has paved the way for domains written in such languages like Mandarin, Russian, Greek, and Arabic.

New types are being proposed. Some have suggested that city names, like NYC, Berlin, or London, join the ranks of geographic endings. There are also new categories under discussion. Some of these suggested new ones are Music, Free, and Shop. These new ones get proposed because users want more precise ways to organize their website addresses. Furthermore, the more precise the TLD, the better guidance it can give as to what type of website it represents.