Google Domains and the Squarespace Deal - Highlights
I had several sites whose domain name server (DNS) records and domain registration billing had a lot to do with Google Domains. It was a beta project when I first encountered this user-friendly, straightforward, and fast DNS ecosystem that would get immediately verified by the Google Search Console (GSC).
While I have enjoyed the freedom to create a hundred domains per domain name registration, Squarespace is about to take over Google Domains in a deal that the world's top search and ad network provider identifies as helpful in sharpening their business focus.
In an article on Mashable about what Sqaurespace's Google Domains deal means for the site owners, I came across a site documenting the history of all the projects that Google has put aside or shut down. At the time of writing this, i.e., 29 August 2023, 01:45 PM, IST, the entry on this website discussing this domain registrar switch ranked first, as depicted in the following screenshot.
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| Image 1 - The list of projects that Google discontinued includes the update about Squarespace becoming the new regulator of Google Domains' DNS, billing, and customer support offerings. |
Squarespace has stated it will honor the domain billing prices at least for a year after the transaction concerning Google Domains is completed. It will also incentivize the user base to leverage website building and e-commerce integrations that Squarespace has been offering to its existing customers.
Apparently, webmasters who utilize Google Domains for convenience are divided about what to do next. I found the following approaches among the stakeholders after going through the comments of multiple articles and online discussion communities.
How Did the Web React to Squarespace Getting Google Domains?
Approach 1 - Some users want to plan domain migration to Cloudflare, Namecheap, or Porkbun.
Approach 2 - Others will wait and check whether Squarespace offers a satisfying experience before considering domain transfer.
Approach 3 - Some site owners want to rationalize the domains they own by selling off the ones they no longer deem necessary to their long-term objectives.
Approach 4 - Meanwhile, those website owners who have already tried and liked Sqaurespace's ecosystem are less worried about changing the registrar. Instead, they are more worried about the successful transfer of their DNS and billing information.
Approach 5 - A few users say they never used Google Domains for important sites since they had already anticipated that Google would likely stop this project at some point.
Besides, there are webmasters who have always actively avoided Google Domains because they preferred Namecheap, Cloudflare, and other DNS service providers. Not all, but a handful of these users are busy typing "I already told you so" type comments.
Endnote
I have chosen the approach 2. However, if I do not like what Squarespace has to offer, my preference will be to move my domains to Cloudflare. I still recall how happy I was when I received the mail last year promising that Google Domains is out of its beta lifecycle.
But the rise of ChatGPT and related issues surrounding copyrights, privacy, the potential for more harmful fake news, as well as conversational tech experiences might have prompted Google to ascertain its business priorities and inspect the projects it has been operating.
In business and life, you must make tough choices, involving what to focus on and what to let go. If you try to chase after too many different aspirations in one go, you will become dust before you know it. Therefore, Google taking the challenges in artificial intelligence, intellectual property regulation, and creative ethics seriously makes a lot of sense to me.
Google Domains has joined the long list of projects that Google has depreciated or abandoned. In a way, the writing was always on the wall. So, I cannot even complain about this situation except feel a bit sad. Squarespace will manage Google Domains from here onwards; that's a fact and I must accept it.
Let's wait and watch how this development progresses.
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