Quick answer

A domain name is a human-readable name, such as example.com, used to identify an internet location. In a web address it appears inside the hostname, but it is not the whole URL.

Original example

Domain name versus complete URL

example.com is a domain name. https://example.com/learn?topic=images is a complete URL containing a protocol, hostname, path, and query as well as the domain name.

Why domain names are useful

Domain names give people a stable, readable label instead of requiring them to remember a numeric network address. The Domain Name System helps software find the network information associated with that name.

A hostname can include additional labels before a registered domain, such as learn.example.com. Correctly identifying registrable domains requires public-suffix knowledge; simply splitting at dots is not reliable.

Common misunderstandings

  • A domain name is not automatically the same thing as a complete website address.
  • Owning a similar-looking domain does not prove an organization owns another domain.

Related answers

Sources

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