URL Explained: What It Is and How It Works

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Data Extraction Glossary

URL

URL, which is also known as Uniform Resource Locator, is a very common term. We all use this in our routine life to open a website on the web. But what is it in technical terms? The role of a URL is addressing web browsers to open a specific page or file on the internet or web. It’s a great advancement in technology that connects users to websites or other online resources in seconds.

What is a URL?

URLs (or Uniform Resource Locators) play an important role in navigating the web. Without it, finding any website will become pretty chaotic. The user can simply put the URL address of any website in the browser search bar to get quick access. You can even conduct precise research to access specific images, web pages, or videos.

URL’s structure

All Uniform Resource Locators have a specific structure composed of many components. They all work together to locate any document or site on the web servers.

Let us take an example—

https://www.proxywings.com/blog/url-guide?ref=homepage#section2

Here,

HTTPS is a protocol
www.proxywings.com is a name of domains
ref=homepage is a parameter
/blog/url-guide is a path
#section2 is a fragment.

These essential parts work together to find specific resources with different as well as unique addresses.

Parts of a URL

Let’s look into different parts of a URL:

Protocol: This determines how the browser actually communicates with the servers. Generally, protocols include HTTP and HTTPS. HTTP protocol offers high security, whereas HTTPS doesn’t.

Domain Name: It is the name of a specific website. These are also known as web addresses or domain names.

Path: Directs to specific pages or file paths within the site.

Parameters: It’s a key-value pair after a question mark. Parameters offer additional data for tracking or filtering.

Fragment: This element points to a certain part of the page (for instance, a section heading).

These elements enable browsers to locate the requested resources swiftly as well as efficiently.

URL vs. URN: Difference Between Them

Many people have confusion between URL and URN. Though these two terms sound the same, they are completely different.
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, whereas URN stands for Uniform Source Name. Also, URL is the address that determines the exact location of the source on the web, whereas URN indicates the resource name only.

Examples

These are common types of URLs.

Browsers will take these as input to fetch and display content with precision.