services Google Buys Business.Site Domain for 'Google My Business'

[News]

Radix, the domain registry that has the exclusive rights to operate new domain extension .SITE, today announced that it has sold the domain name business.site to Google. As part of Google My Business, small business owners are able to make a website with a BUSINESSNAME.business.site domain name for free. The service is available globally to all merchants enrolled in Google My Business.

In a post published on the official Google India Blog, the brand said that 'with over 400 million Indians online, and approximately 300 million of them on smartphones, the internet has emerged as the go-to destination to research and buy. However, 32% of small businesses in India are completely offline. That means they are missing out on many potential customers.' With Google My Business, these SME's will be able to make an instant website with a free BUSINESSNAME.business.site domain name...

Read More

 

[hullswingerscom]

No comments but this is good news for .Site investors and maybe NGTLD holders.

 

[Haykay2005]

Good one for .site

 

[Charles Carreon]

With respect to the TLD, the dot-com hegemons will take note. Where the behemoths lead, everyone else follows.

With respect to the business model -- it's fascinating that the free-site model continues to open the door to commercial website operation for so many. Web development has to some extent remained a bit of a dark art to your average commercial operator.

 

[ikhub]

Let me make it clear ....

I'm not going to register any .site domain

 

[offthehandle]

With respect to the business model -- it's fascinating that the free-site model continues to open the door to commercial website operation for so many. .

Like rehash of GeoCities and MySpace. FB, linked in, Now wix, etc. Once smart small business people figure out they are under control by someone else for their traffic, sales leads, Seo, etc... they will go to domains or drop out. It surprises me that more web development has not become under large corps and easy unlike it is now, it still is a DIY thing and corporate ad agency offering.

 

[JB Lions]

These are horrible. Just a bunch of sub-domains on a new gtld.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:business.site&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

So Bob has a bakery. So he can have bobsbakery.business.site

Again, horrible url. bobs bakery dot business dot site. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Maybe Bob can just learn worldpress, whatever, get a regular domain. Control.

Eh, looks like they're all just 1 page sites.

"for free. The service is available globally to all merchants enrolled in Google My Business."

They sold it today but there are already hundreds of thousands of sites, more like pages?

 

[Casey L]

These are horrible. Just a bunch of sub-domains on a new gtld.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:business.site&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

So Bob has a bakery. So he can have bobsbakery.business.site

Again, horrible url. bobs bakery dot business dot site. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Maybe Bob can just learn worldpress, whatever, get a regular domain. Control.

Or bob can just get a free Weebly account, at least then it'd be a .com subdomain

 

[Joshua Harding]

When you're big brother, you can purchase whichever domain you damn well please - the publicity will naturally follow. So too will the value!

 

[JB Lions]

When you're big brother, you can purchase whichever domain you damn well please - the publicity will naturally follow. So too will the value!

No it won't. It's a bunch of free 1 pagers off 1 .site.

Check some of the sites (pages) Google them.

DayRise Solar Enerdy

how much competition can that have?

https://www.google.com/search?q=DayRise+Solar+Enerdy&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

I don't see the .site anywhere.

 

[Joshua Harding]

No it won't. It's a bunch of free 1 pagers off 1 .site.

I should clarify - I'm not necessarily implying that .site will increase in value. But, to say that with the weight of Google behind ANY domain won't increase ITS value through their traffic generation would be naive.

 

[JB Lions]

I should clarify - I'm not necessarily implying that .site will increase in value. But, to say that with the weight of Google behind ANY domain won't increase ITS value through their traffic generation would be naive.

They actually have a site abc.xyz Did xyz go up in value?

What traffic? I'm not seeing them rank, even for their original name.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:business.site&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Google some of the business names, see if you see their .sites ranking.

They're more like 1 page listings.

Some light content
Some pics
Map
Address, Contact, Business Hours

Template 1 pagers.

Oh, you mean Google will increase in value?

 

[Joshua Harding]

They actually have a site abc.xyz Did xyz go up in value?

What traffic? I'm not seeing them rank, even for their original name.

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:business.site&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Google some of the business names, see if you see their .sites ranking.

They're more like 1 page listings.

Some light content
Some pics
Map
Address, Contact, Business Hours

Template 1 pagers.

Again, you're making the leap that I, myself, haven't asserted. I'm not saying that xyz would increase in value given Google's acquisition of abc.xyz. Instead, that the domain itself is inherently more valuable as a consequence of being in possession of Google.

Perhaps they're just sitting on the aforementioned domains for the time being - waiting to develop them for a specific use.

 

[JB Lions]

Again, you're making the leap that I, myself, haven't asserted. I'm not saying that xyz would increase in value given Google's acquisition of abc.xyz. Instead, that the domain itself is inherently more valuable as a consequence of being in possession of Google.

Perhaps they're just sitting on the aforementioned domains for the time being - waiting to develop them for a specific use.

It'll help - https://www.google.com/business/

 

[Joshua Harding]

It'll help - https://www.google.com/business/

Totally. Cheers for the discourse!

 

[offthehandle]

I should clarify - I'm not necessarily implying that .site will increase in value. But, to say that with the weight of Google behind ANY domain won't increase ITS value through their traffic generation would be naive.

Rather than assume its naive, I think we all should get a JoeBlowsDomains.business.site, and redirect traffic to JoeBlowsDomains.com and see it there is SEO value. Or no links or directs. Just park one page on some long tail obtuse non competitive keyword and see if google ranks it. I am highly suspect that Google is going to give any free organic ranking to these subdomains. Hope I am wrong.

 

[arjun29]

Or bob can just get a free Weebly account, at least then it'd be a .com subdomain

One day bob will sell few more bakeries and register bobsbakeryworld.com and hire a freelancer to create a custom website for 50$.
If bob has a interest in creating his business site and can afford all the trouble while explaining his bobsbakery.business.site or wix or whatever, he can afford to create his OWN webspace and he will do that.
COM is COM for business websites no matter who buys what. . Yes, if google bought google.site for their main website, things would have been little different.

 

[MediaOmatic]

That's a good as it has simplified the work especially for business low budgets...

 

[Business Brands]

This is a big mistake by Google. If they cared to consult with established domain name brokerages, I doubt they will get a single advice to do what they have done. We predict Google will relocate their offering once they realize their mistake.