Google Domains was a domain name registrar and domain management service operated by Google.[2] It was launched in 2014 and continued to operate, mostly as a beta service, until most of its assets were acquired by Squarespace on September 7, 2023. The sale included databases of registered domains, customer accounts, and registry accreditation.
 | |
| Successor(s) | Squarespace Domains |
|---|---|
| Area served | Country list[1]
|
| Industry | Domain name registration |
| URL | domains |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | June 13, 2014 |
| Current status | Discontinued (September 7, 2023) |
Features
editThe service offered domain registration, DNS hosting, dynamic DNS, domain forwarding, and email forwarding.[3] It provided native integration support for Google Cloud DNS and Google Workspace. It also offered one-click DNS configuration that connected the domains with Blogger, Google Sites, Squarespace, Wix.com, Weebly, Bluehost, Shopify, and Firebase.[4][5] It supports domain privacy, custom nameservers, and DNSSEC.
The domain registration service was accredited by ICANN – the IANA number assigned by ICANN to Google LLC was 895.[6][7] This number was transferred to Squarespace after the sale in September 2023.[8][9][better source needed]
History
editGoogle became a domain name registrar as early as in 2005.[10] Google Domains was publicly launched under a beta test mode on January 13, 2015.[3]
On March 15, 2022, Google announced that Google Domains was officially out of beta.[11] It then supported more than 300 top-level domains.
On September 7, 2023, all Google Domains assets—including all customer accounts and approximately 10 million registered domain names—were acquired by Squarespace for about $180 million.[12][13] Squarespace announced it would transfer existing domains to its Squarespace Domains platform after a transition period.[14][15] On the same day, Google Domains stopped accepting new domain registrations (selling new domains) and started recommending users to use Squarespace directly.[16] All domains had been migrated to Squarespace by July 10, 2024.[17]
References
edit- ^ "Support – Google Domains". Google Domains. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
- ^ Kumparak, Greg (June 23, 2014). "Google Gets Into Domain Sales". TechCrunch.
- ^ a b Perez, Sarah (January 13, 2015). "Google Domains Launches To All In U.S. With Support For Blogger Integration, Templates And More Domain Endings". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ^ Lisota, Kevin (January 15, 2015). "Google Domains: Useful for some small business owners, but useless in many cases". GeekWire. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ^ Pinola, Melanie (January 13, 2015). "You Can Now Buy and Sell Domain Names on Google Domains". LifeHack. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ^ "Registrar IDs". IANA. Archived from the original on July 16, 2023. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
- ^ McCarthy, Kieren (February 1, 2005). "Google becomes domain name seller • The Register". The Register. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
- ^ "List of Accredited Registrars". ICANN. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ "Registrar IDs". IANA. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
- ^ "Google becomes domain name seller".
- ^ "Google Domains is out of beta".
- ^ "Squarespace Completes Acquisition of Google Domains Assets". PR Newswire. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
- ^ Shakir, Umar (June 16, 2023). "Google sunsets Domains business and shovels it off to Squarespace". The Verge.
- ^ Li, Abner (June 15, 2023). "Google Domains shutting down, assets sold and being migrated to Squarespace". 9to5Google. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
- ^ "Squarespace Completes Acquisition of Google Domains Assets" (Press release). PR Newswire. September 7, 2023. Archived from the original on September 7, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
- ^ Schoon, Ben (September 17, 2023). "Google Domains has stopped selling new domains". 9to5Google. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ "About the Squarespace purchase of Google Domains registrations". Google Support.