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Valid Domain Name Characters Guide
You have your business that is doing well. But you want to create a website for it. That's awesome!
But in order for you to create a website, you need to register a domain name- a unique one at that.
Where to start? You need to know that not all characters and symbols are valid to use as domain names.
But what is a domain name? Let us guide you through the whole thing!
The website's name is referred to as the domain name. It is the name that people use to access your website.
A domain name can be any combination of numbers and small letters which will be used with various domain name extensions (.net, .com).
Every domain name must be different and unique- it is impossible to have two websites with the same domain name. You also must register your domain name before using it (check out our most recommended domain registrars).
For example, Facebook is the name of the company, and facebook.com is the domain name.
To start, let us introduce you to the two main parts of a domain name:
- Label: That is the actual name of your website, e.g., "Facebook" in facebook.com.
- Top-Level Domain: That is the extension following the name, e.g., ".com" in facebook.com.
For the label, you can use a combination of letters, numbers, and hyphens up to 63 characters. Except, the hyphen (-) can't be used at the beginning or end of the label.
Can a Domain Name Have a Dot in It?
Well, a domain name can and can't have a dot in it. There are certain cases in which the dot is allowed, but normally, it is reserved for TLD (.com, .net, .gov) and sub-domains.
Sub-domains will look something like this: forum.yourbusiness.com, support.yourbusiness.com.
The tricky part is that you can't register a domain name as forum.yourbusiness.com. So what you need to do first is register your domain name as yourbusiness.com, then register a subdomain for free. A dot is part of the valid domain name characters, after all.
Can a Domain Name Have Capital Letters?
Simply put, domain names can't have capital letters in them. Therefore, only small letters are valid domain name characters.
IDN (International Domain Names)
These special letters are also valid domain name characters- domain names containing these special letters are called IDN or international domain names: (ß, à, Á, â, ã, ó, ô, þ, ü, ú, ð, æ, å, ï, ç, è, õ, ö, ÿ, ý, ò, ä, œ, ê, ë, ì, í, ø, ù, î, û, ñ, é.)
Domain names are the foundation of your website. However, in order for your website to bring traffic, it needs to be memorable.
That is because if people find your website useful one time, they will search for topics with your domain name if it is easy to remember. However, if your website's domain name is complicated, people will simply forget about it.
- Easy to spell: Make sure that your domain name is not an ancient English word so that users can type it correctly without misspelling it.
- Easy to remember and short: Make it concise and straight to the point—it is easier to remember facebook.com than it is to remember bluefaceofcommunitywherepeoplechat.com. The shorter, the better.
- Descriptive: Your domain name should clarify what your website is about. For instance, if your website is about audiobooks, it is more logical to call it freeaudiobooks.com than to call it oscarwilde.com.
- Domain name extension: It is common among people to register their domain names with the extension ".com." However, companies located in certain regions will register under a local domain, e.g., .co.uk, .it. Meanwhile, organizations would register their domain names under the extension ".org."
Summary of Invalid and Valid Domain Name Characters
| Character | Valid or Invalid |
|---|---|
| Special Characters | Invalid |
| Symbols | Invalid |
| Commas | Invalid |
| Numbers | Valid |
| Dots | It can be valid sometimes and invalid sometimes. |
| Ampersand | Invalid |
| Apostrophes | Invalid |
| Capital Letters | Invalid |
| Letters | Valid |
| Dashes | Invalid |
| Hyphens | Valid |
| Underscores | Invalid |
| Spaces | Invalid |
Remember that domain names are the first thing that internet users will see when they come across your website. So, in order for your website to hit the top, you need to be careful about what domain name you choose for your website.
Your domain name is best short, precise, concise, straight to the point, easy to memorize, and easy to spell.
To sum it up, you can use small letters, numbers, hyphens (only in the middle), and sometimes dots in your domain name. But you cannot use symbols and characters like $, %, _, #, !, ().