Types Of Generic Top Level Domains

A generic top-level domain which is commonly abbreviated as gTLD is one of the categories of top-level domains. This top level domain is maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The generic top-level domains are those which are previously reserved for use in the domain name system of the internet. The main group of the generic top-level domains includes com, info, net and org domains.

These domain names are registered only for some websites as they need to pass through a set of guidelines. According to IANA guidelines, a Domain Name Registration Company registers the domain names according to different categories. These categories have been formed by the companies after analyzing the requirements of the online business domain. There are three main categories which have been formed by registration companies. Discussed below is more on these three categories:

Unrestricted generic top level domains

Unrestricted generic top-level domains are the domains which can be registered for any person or organization for any use. The most common domain names in this category are com, net, org, and info. Initially, it was only the info which was used widely and it was unrestricted. Other domain names at that time were registered only for a specific target audience. However, because of some issues, the other domain names also acquired an unrestricted character and are now permanently unrestricted.

Sponsored generic top level domains

Sponsored generic top level domains are domains which are based on theme concepts. These are domains which were proposed by private agencies and organizations and these organizations established rules which restricted the eligibility of registrants for using top level domains. One common example of these domains is the aero top level domain which is sponsored by the Internationale de communications A ronautiques. This organization limits the registration of domain names to members of the air-transport industry.

Geographic generic top level domains

A geographic TLD is a generic top-level domain which uses the domain name which is related to a geographical, geopolitical, linguistic, cultural or ethnic community. Initially, only two geographic TLD existed and these had sponsored domains as .cat for the Catalan language and culture, and asia.