The Terminology

Terminology is important for many reasons, and an absolute minimum to be an SEO. So, be sure to know all the relevant terms in and out sooner than later.

URL, FQDN, TLD, HTTP, SSL, slug - what does it all mean?

• Top Level Domain (TLD) is the ending all domain has, like «.com», «.fr» or «.edu».

• www.example.com is a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), meaning it has both the hostname, «example», and the TLD, «.com». «www» is simply just the sub-domain, which is explained more in-depth shortly.

• The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a specific web address for a website, like www.example.com/contact or www.example.com/cars/ev.

• The slug is the part of a URL which identifies a particular page on a website, like «/contact» or «/cars/ev» from the above examples Always try to use human-readable slug-names like «/clothes/jackets/ » so the user more easily knows there they are in the hierarchy.

• Occasionally you will see the term URI. URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier, and is as it says; a unified identifier for a specific resource, being it a unique identifier for a book with its ISBN-number, or - in our world - a unique web address, the URL. So, lets stick to the term URL. URI-term, gone.

• Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the agreed protocol that serves and handles all websites on top of the Web. In the early days, when the Internet was «invite-only», there were no need for secure and encrypted communication. As the number of users grew and more and more privacy-dependent services like banks and governments started offering services on top of the Web, and as the consumers wanted a more private experience online, HTTPS (HTTP Secure), first introduced in 2000, became more and more widely used. After Google in early 2018 announced they would mark all HTTP-websites as «Not Secure» after mid-2018, and also announced that HTTPS had become one of the many ranking-factors, most websites moved over to the secure HTTPS-protocol. In 2019 more than half of all websites runs on HTTPS. Thanks to Google, and the open Lets Encrypt initiative, issuing free SSL-certificates to all websites who are moving over to HTTPS.