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URL vs. Domain Name: The Difference?

by Wurmwood
12 replies
Hi, everyone.

Okay, I've tried searching for an answer to this one here and on Google to no avail. Can someone clearly explain to me the difference between a domain name and a URL, using as little jargon as possible? In all the answers I've found using Google, the author uses different words to describe each of them but it still somehow sounds like they're talking about the same thing; that or they use terms that are over my head.

Thank you.
#difference #domain #url
  • Profile picture of the author TheCG
    The domain name is the actual name of the website such as www.dogtraining.com while a URL may be any one of the pages within the domain such as http://dogtraining.com/products or http://dogtraining.com/contactme and so on.


    If I am wrong here I am sure some of the more experienced will point it out.
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    Yes, by the way, I AM in the Witness Protection Program. I could tell you who I am but then I would have to kill you.

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    • Profile picture of the author txconx
      Originally Posted by TheCG View Post

      The domain name is the actual name of the website such as www.dogtraining.com while a URL may be any one of the pages within the domain such as http://dogtraining.com/products or http://dogtraining.com/contactme and so on.


      If I am wrong here I am sure some of the more experienced will point it out.
      That is correct.

      A domain name is part of the URL, but a URL doesn't usually contain only the domain name.

      In the interest of not confusing the OP, I won't go into how IP addresses can be used in URLs.
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  • Profile picture of the author ShaneRQR
    The way I see it, the domain name is just the name and extension of your site, like so:

    mysite.com

    The URL is the actual address of the site or a specific page on the site, like so:

    http://www.mysite.com/
    or
    http://www.mysite.com/some-page-name-here.html


    That's just what I picked up. No idea if there are official rules about this.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      The domain name is the part you buy at a registrar like Godaddy.

      The URL is an abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator and tells your browser where a particular page or image or PDf or whatever is living on the internet.

      The URL can use numbers like a GPS or words like the street you live on or a combination of those things like your specific house number on your street.

      When you create your site online, then the domain name you got from Godaddy or Namecheap or wherever then becomes a URL so that people can visit your site.
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      • Profile picture of the author Devid Farah
        URL and Domain name overlap, but they are both different.

        You can compare a website to a State. The state name would be the domain name. The domain name is the name that represents everything that website stands for. So a domain name is more for recognition.

        URL is the map/address of everything on the website. Every state is made up of cities. If you want to find those cities you use the URL.
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  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    A Url Or universal resource locator is your internet address domain name is the same thing your domain name is your internet address
    -Will
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    "As a man thinks in his heart so is he-Proverbs 23:7"

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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    The URL contains four parts: the protocol, the server, the path, and the resource.

    Your domain name is PART of the server portion. It may or may not be the whole thing - darklock.com is a valid server name, for example, and also a domain name. But mail.darklock.com is also a valid server name, and not a domain name.
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    "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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    • Profile picture of the author rts2271
      PROTOCOL :// HOSTNAME . SLD . TLD

      Protocol http ftp https gopher finger etc etc This is the method to be employed (Browser, ftp client etc)

      Hostname www www2 ftp ilove Free to be named anything your mind desires, and is alphanumeric.

      Second Level Domain cnn msn mypants This is what most people buy

      Top Level Domain com net org Also referred to as a root domain

      Put it all together and you have a url

      http://ilove.mypants.com

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      Ralph Smith
      Mercenary development and deployment.

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      • Profile picture of the author Wurmwood
        Thank you, everyone. I think I understand now. Thanks for clearing that up.
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Domain name and URL in some cases (few) are completely different, for example, a URL of www.the amphibian.com MAY have a site name called 'The Purple Frog'. As unlikely as that is, (good SEO would have a domain the same as either the site name or one of it's main keywords), it does happen.

    *If a many searched term is 'Christian Historians' the URL & Domain MAY be christianhistorians.com with a site named 'Onward Soldiers of Christ'. Etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author karenhudson
    The domain name is the overall name of the website while the url is the extended path.

    This of course is best explained by showing :
    DOMAIN : http://www.yourdomain.com
    SUB DOMAIN : http://subdomain.yourdomain.com
    URL : http://www.somedomain.com/your url
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  • Profile picture of the author linkbullets
    URL (Uniform Resource Locatar). URL is the actual address of the resource on the Net.On the other hand, Domain name is a component of URLs that helps identify their respective web pages. This is the basic difference between domain name and url.
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