URL vs Domain Name: What's the Difference?

The domain sits inside the host, between :// and the first single slash, after any subdomain prefix. In https://shop.example.co.in:8443/cart/?item=42#pay the registered domain is example.co.in; everything else is added by the server, DNS or the application.

• Scheme: https — how to fetch it. HTTPS defaults to port 443, plain HTTP to port 80.
• Subdomain: shop. — a DNS record you create under your own domain at no extra cost.
• Registered domain: example.co.in — the label example under the .co.in second level of India’s .in registry.
• Port: :8443 — shown only when it differs from the scheme’s default.
• Path: /cart/ — the resource on the server.
• Query: ?item=42 — parameters for the application.
• Fragment: #pay — a position in the page; the browser never sends it to the server.

The fragment point matters in practice: two URLs that differ only after the # request the same document, which is why search engines do not index fragments as separate pages.

A URI is any resource identifier, a URL is a URI that also says where and how to fetch the resource, a domain is a name inside the URL, and an IP address is the number DNS turns that name into. They nest rather than compete.

URI

urn:isbn:9780131103627 or mailto:support@webji.services — identifies something without necessarily pointing to a web location.

URL

https://webji.in/pricing/ — a URI with a scheme and location a browser can fetch.

Domain

webji.in — the human-readable host part, renewed with a registrar.

IP address

192.0.2.10 or 2001:db8::10 — where the server is; an A or AAAA record maps the domain to it.

A URL can use an IP instead of a domain, such as http://192.0.2.10/, but on shared hosting that usually opens the server’s default page, because many sites share one IP and the server picks the site from the domain in the Host header.

Search engines rank URLs, not domains, so every variant of the same page — http and https, www and apex, with and without a trailing slash — can be treated as a separate URL unless you choose one. Pick one canonical form, 301-redirect the others, and link internally only to the canonical version.

The distinction also tells you which tool fixes which job. Changing the domain (rebranding from oldname.in to newname.in) needs a site-wide redirect, a new certificate and DNS changes; the steps are in redirecting a domain to another domain. Changing a URL inside the same domain only needs a single 301, covered in the .htaccess 301 redirect guide, plus a canonical tag on the target.

Ownership works the same way. When you buy a name through domain registration you hold the domain, and every URL under it follows the domain wherever it is hosted.