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There are actually three types of TLDs, as assigned by the IANA/ICANN.

The IANA officially recognizes these three types of TLDs:

gTLD – Generic Top-Level Domains sTLD – Sponsored Top-Level Domains ccTLD – Country Code Top-Level Domains In the past, the selection of TLDs was much more limited. But thanks to some recent changes in policy, there are now well over a thousand TLDs to choose from across these three core groups, with the vast majority fitting into the gTLD category.

gTLD – Generic Top-Level Domains The gTLD category contains all the most recognizable TLDs. That is, this is the category with common options like:

.com

.org

.net

 

Beyond these well-known names, you’ll also find other fairly popular generic options like:

.xyz

.biz

.info

While these generic domains are supposed to be loosely tied to the purpose of a website – for example, .org is for organizations – anyone can register most of these domain names.

Around ~2011, ICANN opened the door for companies and organizations to register their own gTLDs, which greatly expanded the list of gTLDs and explains why we now also have gTLDs like:

.oldnavy

.google

.oracle

.mitsubishi

.mom

.money

.motorcycles

.realestate

.republican

.democrat

 

And you’ll also find gTLDs for specific geographic areas. These are sometimes called GeoTLDs, though they’re really just a subset of gTLDs. Examples here are:

In addition to registering gTLDs for business names, organizations also registered more “generic” niche gTLDs like:

.nyc – only available to residents of New York City

.paris

.berlin

.istanbul

 

Prior to this change in ICANN policy, there were only 22 available gTLDs. Now, at the time that we’re writing this post, there are over 1,200 different gTLDs available. You can view them all at the IANA website.

2. sTLD – Sponsored Top-Level Domains The sTLD group contains TLDs that are sponsored by a specific entity, which could be a business, government, or other groups.

Some of the most common examples here are:

 

.gov – for use by the US government.

.edu – for post-secondary institutions that are accredited by the US Department of Education.

.mil – for use by the US military.

However, you’ll also find smaller sTLDs like:

.museum – reserved for museums.

.jobs – reserved for human resource managers and sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management.

.post – sponsored by the Universal Postal Union.

.travel – reserved for travel agencies and similar businesses.

In contrast to the huge number of gTLDs, there are only 14 sTLDs at the time that we’re writing this article.

3. ccTLD – Country Code Top-Level Domains ccTLDs are top-level domains that represent specific countries. A partial list of common examples is:

.us – USA

.uk – United Kingdom

.eu – European Union

.de – Germany

.fr – France

.cn – China

.es – Spain

.ru – Russia

.ca – Canada

.nl – Netherlands

.in – India

.ch – Switzerland

.jp – Japan

.cn – China

.br – Brazil

.id – Indonesia

.vn – Vietnam

In total, there are 312 different ccTLDs. Some enforce residency restrictions in order to purchase a domain in that area, while others are public and can be purchased by people from anywhere in the world. This latter fact has led to the “off-label” use for some attractive ccTLDs. For example, the .io TLD is especially popular with tech companies and startups. However, despite the tech-sounding name, .io is actually a ccTLD assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Side note – we would not recommend purchasing a .io domain name at the moment, because there’s a chance that this TLD might be going away. In addition to helping you tell human visitors what country your website serves, Google can use ccTLDs to help geotarget your site.

Because of this, you’ll find many large brands using ccTLDs to localize their sites for different markets. For example:

Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk Amazon.de Etc.
Don’t worry, though, Google is also smart enough to figure out that your .io domain name doesn’t only serve the Indian Ocean! In fact, because there are some ccTLDs that are commonly used for non-geographic reasons, Google has a specific list of ccTLDs that they treat as gccTLDs (Generic Country Code Top-Level Domain). In addition to the .io domain, Google’s list of gccTLDs includes other options like:

.fm

.me

.tv

.co