Learn the Difference Between TLDs & ccTLDs
To start an online business, you need to register a domain name for your website, which will allow your customers to engage with you online more conveniently and easily. Before registering for domain names, you must choose a suitable Top-Level Domain (TLD) for your business. So, what is a TLD? A TLD refers to the last part of the domain name such as “.com”, “.net”“.org”, “.biz” and so on.
There are two types of Top-Level Domains which are generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) and country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs). So, what is the difference between gTLDs and ccTLDs?
You need to buy a domain name to start your online business. This is the web Url and helps customers to interact and engage with your store online.
When it comes to purchasing and domain registration, you have multiple options. From the top-level domains (TLDs) to Country code Top-level Domains, you can pick the one according to your requirements.
Difference between TLDs & ccTLDs
Top Level domains
The Top Level domains include the famous .com, .net, .bi, .info etc. They are also known as the generic Top-Level Domains and are not specific to a country or region. Anyone from any part of the world can buy a TLD. Different TLDs are suitable for different website purposes. .com is mostly used for commercial and business activities. Whereas .net is good for representing a networking service. .org as the name suggests suits organization and the .edu is for educational institutes.
Country Code Top Level Domains
Country code is another type of top-level domain. The ccTLDs represent two letters that represent the countries. For example .pk is for Pakistan, .co.uk is for the United Kingdom, .in is for India, etc.
A ccTLD represents a certain country and geographic region. Most of the ccTLDs are also restricted and are managed only by their respective countries. Registration to ccTLDs such as domains PK requires a certain process as per the country’s rules and differs from one country to another. Some countries need residency proof in the country, whereas others don’t have any restrictions regarding the ccTLDs. They market and encourage people to use ccTLDs such as .co, .fm, .me.
Which domain will suit your business?
Now that the difference between the gLDs and ccTLDs is out of the way, the main question is which one would suit your business. Well, this mostly affects your site’s SEO. gTLDs and ccTLDs are interpreted differently by the search engines.
The gTLDs indicate neutrality for a website whereas the ccTLDs represent your website to be country-specific. This affects the results shown to a user when using the search engine. You can check it for any query for example, “online grocery store.”
Most of the results dominating the top search positions use Country’s specific domain i-e ccTLD. This means that for Pakistan, websites would have a .pk domain. Google is always looking to offer the most relevant results and websites near the user and that’s where ccTLDs would have an advantage over the gTLD.
This means that ccTLDs work great when you are looking to establish your brand for a specific country. People mostly trust a domain from their own country compared to the generic one.
Deciding which Domain to Register
The final decision depends on what you want from your site and where you want to market it. In case you want to target a specific country, then go for a country code Top-level domain.
In case you want to target the international market and want to go global, register for generic Top-level domain gTLD. You can also register for multiple country-code Top-level domains such as domains pk, domains in, domains nor, etc.