Most people are familiar with the concept of a website domain because they use popular services like Facebook or YouTube.
They never fully understand how web addresses work because those websites are easy to navigate by clicking or tapping around.
Instead of clicking on links to navigate the internet, you can also type in a specific URL to go directly to one particular document or file on a website.
When typing in or working with different URLs, understanding the different parts of the URL is useful as not all parts of a URL need to be retyped or are standard across all websites.
What is a Website URL?
Every webpage or file on the internet has a unique address called the Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
URLs can be considered to be like a mailing address or phone number that is used to access a specific document on the internet.
Tip: Although two URLs may look visually similar or have minor differences, they are always unique.
The Important Components of a URL
Protocol:
The standard protocol on the internet is known as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and the secure version is known as HTTPS.
These two protocols are the most common on the internet and are used to serve web page content and secure it for users with web browsers.
Another commonly used protocol is the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which is a way to transfer files between a server and a client.
Note: HTTPS is secure in that the private information transmitted between your web browser and the server is encrypted, helping to keep people safe while browsing.
HTTP and HTTPS are not Interchangeable, but May Appear to Be
In many cases, websites automatically direct your web browser to the HTTPS version if you incorrectly specify the HTTP protocol through a redirect.
The HTTP version of a website is a different address than the HTTPS version, and those addresses may have completely different documents.
Protocol Delimiter:
The colon and double forward slash after the protocol name (i.e., ://) separate the protocol name from the address.
Most modern web browsers will handle mistyping and using a single slash for the protocol delimiter correctly.
Hostname:
The hostname is the part of the address that exists after the protocol delimiter and before the next forward slash.
The hostname can be broken up into sections by periods, must contain at least one period, and optionally consists of the domain prefix and domain name.
Domain Prefix / Sub-Domain:
The commonly used domain prefix is “WWW” to indicate a connection to the public webserver.
Domain:
The domain name is important to brands because they want memorable web addresses. Without domain names, typing in a web address would require IP addresses and port numbers.
Domain Extension:
A domain name is registered with a specific domain extension, like .com, .org, and .edu. These extensions can indicate various things about the website.
Common Domain Extensions
.com – Indicates a US commercial domain but can also contain various information.
.org – Indicates an organization operates the website.
.edu – Available only to educational organizations.
.co.uk – Indicates a commercial website located in the UK.
Port Number:
Specifying the port number is not usually needed as the protocol implies the port. The standard port number for a website is port 80.
File Path:
The slashes after the domain name are path separators, separating different elements of a path, similar to file folders in file management systems.
File Name:
The file name is always to the right of the last forward slash and typically describes the file’s contents.
File Extension:
File extensions may or may not exist and determine whether or not the web address is configured to access documents.
Tracking Parameters:
URLs may contain tracking information after a question mark.
Where To Type a URL Into Your Browser
In most modern browsers, there is an address bar to input URLs.
URLs vs. URIs
URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) is a unique identifier for specific items or documents. Web addresses are a type of URI that contain access information for web browsers.