The governing body behind online domains will allow cities, organisations and companies to register their own top-level domains, such as .Coke or .London in one of the biggest shake-ups in web address history.

The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers voted in favour of the proposal to allow unlimited new top-level domains at a special meeting in Singapore.

There are 22 top-level domains currently in use, including .com and .org and about 250 country-level domains such as .au and .uk.

It will cost $185,000 to register a new top level domain and the application process will be designed to prioritise those who have the most legitimate claim to the name.

The cost and process involved in registering a new top-level domain is expected to help global corporations to weed out so-called cybersquatters, who profit from popular brands by registering similar web addresses.

However, it is anticipated conflict could arise over some names, particularly where a brand is also a commonly used noun, such as "apple".

Search engines are expected to react to the move with new, simpler ways to find websites but there is some controversy over whether it could actually complicate search results by adding another level of address detail.

ICANN is anticipating 300 to 1000 new top-level domains under the new program, with applications expected to open in early 2012.