Generally a domain name is described as the name of a website or a name for creating a website.
In reality, without a domain name, it is not possible to have a website. The domain name is the equivalent of a postal address.
More specifically, after the www. prefix, we have the domain name with a sequence of characters (letters, numbers, hyphen) consisting of two parts separated by a dot.
THE NAME
To the left of this dot is the name. It is a more or less long term and more or less understandable. From an Internet user’s point of view, the simpler the term, the easier it is to remember. And the easier it is to memorize, the easier it will be for the Internet user to come back to this name.
Take the example of titptopnames: it is easier to remember tiptopnames than tip-top-names or tiptop-names.
THE EXTENSION
To the right of this point is the extension. There are extensions of 3 types:
Generic extensions are the first extensions historically created. The best known and most used is .com. The others are .net and .org.
Geographic extensions are extensions that represent a country or territory. There are more than 300. For France, it is .fr. For Belgium, the .be; for Switzerland, .ch; for the United States, the .us; for Australia, .au; for China, the .cn; etc
The new expansions. Launched in 2014, there are more than 1000 new extensions whose success and popularity remain, for the best, limited to certain sectors. For example, .Paris, .London, .Tokyo, .bzh, .Corsica or .Alsace for a geographic area. Or the .Shop or .Store for goods selling.
IP ADDRESS
Technically, behind this name is an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Indeed, each name corresponds to a sequence of exclusive numbers like 255.255.255.255 but it is unanimously recognized that it is easier to remember a domain name than an IP address!