Google Unexpectedly Says Goodbye to Its Domain Registration and Website Practice

Google has announced the sale of its domain registration and website practice, Google Domains, to website specialist Squarespace. The acquisition gives Squarespace control over approximately 10 million different domain registrations worldwide, including associated services such as free WHOIS privacy and one-click DNSSEC protection against DNS spoofing and cache poison attacks.

Google’s Reason for the Sale

Google has stated that the sale of the domain registration business is a result of the company’s “focus on important goals.” Google Domains was launched in 2014 and came out of beta last year. The service was a major proponent of the HTTPS standard and top-level domains. The current sale has no impact on existing Google Domains registrations.

Transition Period

Google Domains customers are being given a transition period during which they can transfer their domains to Squarespace or elsewhere. Squarespace will honor the renewal prices for Google Domain users for at least one year and will also give them benefits to build their website with Squarespace. Additionally, Squarespace will use Google’s infrastructure to support Google Domain registrations during the transition period to ensure a smooth domain transfer.

Other Conditions

Squarespace will become the exclusive domain provider for every Google Workspace user for a minimum of three years after closing the deal. Additionally, the website builder will provide billing and support services for Workspace users who previously signed up for it through Google Domains.