How a lot of characters can I have in a domain name? What sort of characters can I use? These are concerns commonly asked by people registering a name for the first time.
Second level domain names, which means a name with a label directly preceding the registry extension (which is the Leading Level Domain or TLD), can contain up to 63 characters.
The following are some standard guidelines for valid characters for use in domain names in most circumstances, with some exceptions to the guidelines following the list.
- Any of the letters of the alphabet are permitted
- Any numbers to 9 can be put to use
- You might possibly also use a hyphen
- Domain names can't begin or end with a hyphen
- You can use a mixture of numbers, letters and hyphens
- You can use numerous instances of hyphens, but in some cases not a double hyphen
- Domain names can begin and finish in a number
- Other types of punctuation, symbols or accent characters can not be applied
- The name's length must be between the range of three and 63 characters
The simplest way to remember most of these guidelines is to consider "LDH" which stands for Letters, Digits, Hyphens.
In regard to double-hypens, you can use these for generic extensions such as com, net and org, but some country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) operators do not allow them, such as in connection with the Australian au extension. The use of double hyphens need to be deemed cautiously as some people today are of the opinion these indicate "spammy" domains.
A different exception to the character rules is in relation to accent characters. These may perhaps be applied in connection with some Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) such as the eu extension.
IDNs can also contain some non-ascii characters such as those made use of in the Greek alphabet and Chinese, Japanese and Korean scripts.
The use of capitalization can also be a confusing aspect, but the bottom line is domain names are not case sensitive. This implies you can register and advertise your name in upper or lower case or a mixture of both and it will function correctly regardless of the representation.
Even though you are able to use 63 characters bear in mind that the longer a name is, the tougher it may be to don't forget or the more likely it is that it will be incorrectly typed into a browser. The use of hyphens, especially a number of instances or use of double hyphens, can create similar challenges.
A pretty lengthy name could possibly also be way more complicated to comprise of on stationery, such as small business cards.
