They say, “all good things must come to an end.” Whoever they are, they may have also said “even some not so good things come to an end as well.” The latter will fortunately come true in the form of Google announcing it is getting out of the domain name business and selling their domain registrations to Squarespace.

This news from the Big Tech behemoth came out late in the day on June 15 with little fanfare. I heard about it on a social media post and had to dig to find the press release announcing the deal. Even as of the writing of this post close to a couple of weeks later there is no mention of the deal on the home page of Google Domains. Digging into Google help I was able to find a mention of it. Not surprising to me, there is mention of it on Squarespace’s home page, with a link to a robust welcome page.

If you can tell by my choice of words so far, I think this is a very good thing. Why? Where Google loves collecting information about people, they don’t like dealing with people. You can’t exactly pick up the phone and call Google for support on their end-user consumer products, everything from Gmail to their Web advertising product AdSense. Interestingly on the Google Domains home page it states you can “get 24/7 Google support from real humans” which made me laugh, for as recently as within the last year that was not the case.

Out with the Old and In with the New

In the course of performing my primary income source (aka my job) I deal with many domain registrars, including Google. Many of my clients have had problems with Google domains as the login to the registrar service is integrated with the overall Google login process. Some clients have had turnover in their business and have had issues getting back into their accounts. In one case, a Web site was down for over 2 weeks because of this. No telephone support was available to accept a credit card to renew the domain name and following their automated account recovery process sadly took that long. I’m not sure exactly when they added real humans to the mix, but it is too little too late in my mind, and I have for years been suggesting people use other registrars like Name.com.

Squarespace, on the other hand, is a service designed for the non-technical user, and will likely be a good home for those domain names leaving Google. If you view the landing page I mentioned earlier they have a nice, stylish page welcoming over Google customers and highlighting the services they offer for domains, including reselling Google Workspace. This makes sense, if Google doesn’t like people and Squarespace does, it’s a win-win.

Trust and Track

If you have domain names registered through Google you can leave them there and they will be migrated to Squarespace. However you should watch for emails from both vendors to watch for specific dates and double-check all services using your domain names to ensure they are operating correctly following the move. If you are a little more technical, you may want to capture the DNS settings for each of your domain names in the event there are issues post-migration. You also have the option to transfer your domain names to any other registrar like Name.com that I have personally used for years. Note I have no stake or referral code with Name.com, but they do offer real humans who offer stellar support out of their Denver, Colorado headquarters.

Google Domains is yet another business that the search and more firm has shelved. A nice list is available at Killed by Google which lists all of their former services – some I miss, some I am glad are gone. Google Domains has already been added to the top of the list ahead of their scheduled September, 2023 shutdown.

Deconstructing Google Domains Demise

Internet-based services come and go quite often. Google Domains is one of them, but their door shutting will open a new door for their customers with Squarespace. No matter where your domain name is registered, always update your contact information and payment methods, and keep a list of them and their expiration dates outside of the registrar account for safekeeping of these vital digital assets.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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