Melbourne has beaten Sydney in becoming the first Australian city to have its own top-level domain name (TLD).
Melbourne businesses and residents will be able to buy the new .melbourne domain names within months.
The global governing body for domain names, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has been gradually releasing some of 1,400 new TLDs since late 2013.
The new TLDs, which join .com, .net and .au on the internet, will help internet users find information about events and businesses in their city faster and more efficiently.
Users can get city-specific information and avoid the clutter of getting details about similar events or businesses in other cities or other countries.
For example, if someone wanted information about the Formula One motor-racing grand prix held in Melbourne or Melbourne's spring horse racing carnival, they would type into their computer: grandprix.melbourne or springcarnival.melbourne.
ARI Registry Services will manage the new .Melbourne TLD for the Victorian government.
".melbourne gives a laser-like focus for the TLD," ARI chief executive Adrian Kinderis told AAP.
"It indicates clearly where a business is located and makes consumers feel comfortable that they are dealing with a Melbourne organisation.
"For those who want to attract people to Melbourne and raise the profile of Melbourne on the internet, this is a great way to do so."
Mr Kinderis said Sydney was the only other Australian city to apply for its own TLD and .sydney was expected to up and running early in 2015.
London, Berlin, Tokyo, New York and other high-profile cities and regions were also securing their own piece of online real estate.
.berlin was the first city to introduce its own TLD.
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