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.com?
why does each website have a .com at the end of it? i know this sounds stupid but i am just curious.
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Short answer: That's just how it is.
Long answer:
Whenever you go anywhere on the Internet, your computer is talking to another computer somewhere else in the world. That computer is identified by an Internet(IP) address, which looks like this: 72.14.207.99. Each address has different numbers, of course. Even YOUR computer has an IP address, and anyone in the world can talk to your computer by using it. Your computer probably doesn't have anything to say, though, so there wouldn't be any point.
72.14.207.99 is the IP address of Google. Enter it in the top URL bar in your browser. It will take you to Google. If you really wanted to, you could navigate the Internet using just IP addresses. But it would be difficult or impossible to remember all of those numbers. So the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers(ICANN) runs the Domain Name System. This allows you to use a domain name like google.com to get to sites, instead of using IP addresses.
When you type www.google.com into your URL bar, here's what happens:
-Your computer asks ICANN's root servers where "com" is. They give you com's IP address.
-Your computer asks .com where "google" is. They give you google's IP address.
-Your computer asks google.com where "www" is. They give you www's IP address.
-Your computer then uses www's IP address to talk to google and get the pages that you want.
So what actually happens when you type google.com into your browser is, through a series of steps, it is turned into a valid IP address.
.com, .net, .org, etc. are all called Top-Level Domains(TLDs) because they are the last(top) domain in a domain. Which TLDs are used is determined by ICANN. They control the main Domain Name System.
So when ICANN was laying out the plans for DNS, they decided to break the TLDs into categories. Com stands for commercial, and it's for businesses. Net stats for network, and it's for Internet-related sites. Org stands for organization, and it's for non-profit organizations. None of these categories are enforced, so a commercial organization is welcome to use .com, .net, or .org. There are other, less used TLDs like .pro[fessional] and .edu[cation] that *are* enforced.
ICANN doesn't directly control any of the TLDs. They only control the root servers which tell people who owns the TLDs. Verisign owns .com and .net, Afilias owns .org. And these companies spread their control over many registrars. You buy domains like google.com and advicenators.com from these registrars. It usually costs about $10/year.
ICANN only runs one Domain Name System of a few dozen. It's possible for you to use any Domain Name System that you like. These alternative DNSs have different TLDs, and in some you can even buy your own. But you would only be accessible to people who use that specific DNS, and most use the official ICANN DNS.
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No, it's a good question. Those are called domain extensions.
There's more than .com.
.com for like commercial, professional sites
.gov for government sites
.org for organizations
.net for network
You can google some more up if you so desire!
Sample sites for you:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
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