What is URL? Full Form and Meaning of “URL”

URL – Uniform Resource Locator

As we visit any website on the Internet, the first thing we see is the URL which is pointing to specific web address. A URL is normally displayed in the address bar at the top of a browser, with a typical URL being shown in the following format: http://buildandshine.com/.

Hello Everyone, In this article, we are going to tell you what is a URL and what is the meaning of URL?

Meaning of URL?

A URL is a type of uniform resource locator and is address of a resource (file or document) on the World Wide Web and the protocol used to access it. It is used to indicate the location of a web resource to access the web pages. For example, to visit the buildandshine website, you will go to the URL www.buildandshine .com, which is the URL for the buildandshine website.

The actual URL is a set of four numbers of “IP Address” separated by periods. An example of this would be 202.142.28.8 but as these are difficult for humans to use and remember, addresses are represented in alphanumeric form that is more descriptive and easy to remember.

Thus, the URL of my site which is URL 188.114.97.3 can also be written as www.buildandshine.com.

The DNS – Domain Name System translates the alphanumerical address to numeric.

A URL is made up of domain name, and the path of the resource on the web server which you want to access.

URL is basically your website name or identity . Where you build your brand name and your online business .

Let me illustrate with an example : As the site www.facebook.com, Where www – is the Protocal and called as world wide web and the facebookis the website name or brand and then .com is your extension .

What are the main parts of URL?

1. The protocol:

• The first part of a web address it can be HTTP (without SSL) or HTTPS (with SSL). The protocol helps your browser to communicate with the server of a website, to send and retrieve information. The protocol helps the URL to work in the first place.
• Mostly the website build now are using hypertext text protocol secure (HTTPS). While this protocol does essentially the same thing as HTTP, it’s a much more secure option and encrypts data moving between the browser and the server of the website.

2. The domain name:

• The domain name is the name of the website on the web address. It is the most identifiable part of a web address. The domain name will take you straight to the home page of the website if nothing else is added to the end of it.
• The domain name comprises two other components, first the name of the website in question and then a top-level domain(TLD). The TLD refers to .com, .org, .info, etc. It comes at the end of the domain name.

3. The Path:

• The words after TLD are the path. Its role is to direct a browser to a specific page on the website. It is also sometimes known as URL slug
• The last part of a web address is usually used to define a path.
• If you just wanted to visit our website’s Homepage, all you would need are the protocol and the domain name: https://buildandshine.com. But each individual page or file on a website also has its own URL. Once again, here’s what it looks like:

https://buildandshine.com/seo/how-to-start-a-blog/

The part after the TLD is known as the ‘path’. This is because it directs the browser to a specific page on the website.

What is the history of URL?

The first ever web page was published on August 6, 1991 was made by Tim Berners-Lee and served up a page explaining the World Wide Web project and giving information on how users could setup a web server and how to create their own websites and web pages, as well as how they could search the web for different information. 

In the early 1990s, the web was built on top of the internet. It made it far more convenient to access and link documents to one another. There were three building blocks that made this possible the HTTP protocol, HTML, and the URL. HTTP was a method used for sending and receiving documents and the URL was used to show where the documents were located and how documents should be linked.

In 1992 Tim Berners-Lee created three things, giving birth to what we consider the Internet. The HTTP protocol, HTML, and the URL.