What is a ccTLD?¶

A Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) is the two letters following a domain name that represent a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory. For example, .au is Australia, .uk is the UK.

We use ccTLDs because they give us more information about the site that we’re visiting; in this case, the geographical origin of the site.

They function as part of the internet system we use to help us map and remember site’s numerical addresses, also called the Domain Name System (DNS). ccTLDs aren’t part of ICANNs new TLD rollout, and there’s an application process if you want to establish a new one.