If you already know how to read a web address or URL (Universal Resource Locator, pronounced “you are ell”), skip this section. Otherwise, consider the web address https://www.googleguide.com/searchEngines/google/searchLeader.html. Here’s what it all means:
http |
transfer protocol (type of information being transferred) |
www.googleguide.com |
website name, host name |
googleguide |
second-level domain name |
com |
top-level domain name |
searchEngines |
directory name (major category) |
google |
sub-directory name (sub-category) |
searchLeader |
file name (a file within the directory) |
html |
file format |
Here’s a list of some common top-level domain names. Note that some sites don’t follow these conventions:
.edu |
educational site (usually a university or college) |
.com |
commercial business site |
.gov |
U.S. government/non-military site |
.mil |
U.S. military sites or agencies |
.net |
networks, Internet service providers, organizations |
.org |
non-profit organizations and others |
Because the Internet was created in the United States, “US” was not originally assigned to U.S. domain names; however, it’s used to designate American state and local government hosts, including many public schools, and commercial entities, e.g., well.sf.ca.us. The domain .ca represents Canada, unless it’s followed by .us, in which case it represents California.
| Domain Codes | State |
|---|---|
.ca.us |
California |
.nv.us |
Nevada |
.tx.us |
Texas |
Other countries have their own two letter codes as the top level of their domain names — although many non-US sites use other top-level domains (such as .com):
| Domain Codes | Country |
|---|---|
.ca |
Canada |
.de |
Germany |
.dk |
Denmark |
.jp |
Japan |
.il |
Israel |
.uk |
United Kingdom |
.za |
South Africa |
To limit results to a single site or domain, specify the site name (e.g., www.googleguide.com or googleguide.com) or a top-level domain name (e.g., .com or .edu) in Google’s domain selector.
