Have you ever wondered how a website differs from a domain name, and how those two differ from a web host?
Allow us to clear the confusion as we walk you through their differences in a way you can understand and remember.
Understanding the distinctions between domain name, web host, and website is fundamental to navigating the digital landscape.
Let’s start with the WEBSITE.
A website is an organized collection of pages consisting of texts, videos, photos, links, and other visual content that provides visitors with information about a person, an organization, or a business.
Anyone can use a website builder or hire an expert to build a website from scratch. After building it, the website now needs a name and address.
This is where DOMAIN or DOMAIN NAME comes in.
A domain or domain name is the website address people type in a browser’s URL bar to get to the website.
Because the internet is an intricate network of interconnected computers, each computer is assigned a series of numbers called an IP Address that quickly identifies a website.
This IP address is a combination of numbers separated by dots; for example 68.5.190.77
Computers have no problem remembering these series of numbers that humans can’t. That is why domain names were invented because they use words that humans can easily remember instead of memorizing an IP address.
Now, a domain name has two parts:
Top Level Domain (TLD)
Second-Level Domain (SLD).
The TLD is the last section of a domain name or the short part which follows the dot.
Examples:
.com
.net
.org
.info
.edu
TLDs are also called domain suffixes.
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) manages domain names and IP addresses. It categorizes TLDs as follows:
So, the SLD or second-level domain is most often what a website is about. It is what you name your website.
To secure a domain name, it needs to be registered with a Domain Registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap.
So now, you have a website with a registered domain name or address. But internet visitors still have no access to it unless housed someplace where they can reach it.
Enter the WEB HOST.
A Web host provides hosting services where all the files of a website are stored. It is where a website lives. All websites need web hosting so they can be found on the internet.
When a person types a domain name in a browser, the domain name gets translated into the IP address of the web hosting company’s computer (or hosting server).
That server sends back all the website files to the user’s web browser. And that’s how a visitor gets to a website.
In short, think of it this way: the website is your organization’s house, the web host is where your house is located, and the domain name is your house address that directs visitors to its location.
Learn more about Domains and Web Hosting.
