Google going to sell domains

[chenzen]

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/google-gets-into-domain-sales/?utm_campaign=fb&ncid=fb

Currently invitation only.
They are looking to provide

• Free private registration
• Free email forwarding to your personal Gmail inbox
• Free domain forwarding
• Support for up to 100 sub-domains
• Plans to support all the new gtlds in the next few years
  
• Full phone support

Hope they turn out to be better than the other registrars.

 

[enlytend]

Free spying on what you do with that domain.

No thanks.

 

[JB Lions]

This might end up not being a big deal at all, few things come to mind.

They bought an affiliate network Performics, changed the name to Google Affiliate Network, they ended up shutting it down. Some merchants got the news from their affiliates. Wasn't handled well at all.

Didn't Google Checkout shut down last year?

Remember Froogle? It was supposed to kill all the price comparison sites. Never really took off, changed the name to Google Products.

Did Facebook die with Google+? No.

And $12 is more than the $8 something I'm paying.

And you would be pretty crazy handing over any more of your business (insights to your business) to Google.

 

[Name Trader]

With $12 pricing, your free private registration isn't exactly free. Trust Google? I trust them about as far as I can throw GoDaddy Are they a good company, yes. Do they provide great services for domainers/websites, yes. Will they use your Google Domains info for their other services, yes. Will that affect your business, maybe.

 

[Name Trader]

and they remediate all issues very fast

This is not true at all. They make it extremely difficult to remediate issues. Just try to get a domain name unfaillisted. It's nigh on impossible. You will give up long before you ever reach a satisfactory conclusion of a clean domain. There is no doctrine of innocence until proven guilty. Just the opposite, in fact. You have to prove your innocence, to Google's (arbitrary) satisfaction.

 

[SearchEngineZ]

I've reconsidered my position. In an ideal world where nothing ever goes wrong with your domain names, Google would be fine - there's nothing evil they can do from just knowing who you are (except for perhaps trusting their privacy service).

But if something goes wrong?

I've worked for Google.
I've been a 7-figure AdWords customer.
I've been an AdSense customer.

All ended terribly - I was collateral damage. If Google's algorithm's merely hint that you might be spammy (I never was) then they get rid of you, and won't communicate.

So I reckon there is great potential for a domain name to be held hostage by Google.

 

[FPForum]

I wonder what kind of pricing they are going to offer....There aren't very many companies out there who could give someone like GoDaddy a run for their money - but Google can.

I'm sure Bob Parsons, Blake Irving, and the other big wigs at GoDaddy weren't happy to hear this..

Aside from that, I don't plan on buying domains through Google!

 

[TotalWebsites]

I'm surprised google doesn't just create their own extension then tweak their algorithm to rank their extension greater than any others.

 

[iowadawg]

Go google!
They found another way to add to their database more users and information.
And probably at some point in time, a domain through google will outrank other domains.

 

[buyselldoms]

This might end up not being a big deal at all, few things come to mind.

They bought an affiliate network Performics, changed the name to Google Affiliate Network, they ended up shutting it down. Some merchants got the news from their affiliates. Wasn't handled well at all.

Didn't Google Checkout shut down last year?

Remember Froogle? It was supposed to kill all the price comparison sites. Never really took off, changed the name to Google Products.

Did Facebook die with Google+? No.

And $12 is more than the $8 something I'm paying.

And you would be pretty crazy handing over any more of your business (insights to your business) to Google.

+1 this. (no pun intended)

I am glad I am not the only one to remember froogle before the rename!

I think you are being too kind to Google & Co... remember Google Video? Despite being the popular search engine to save face they had to buy YouTube as they couldn't compete with that website!

Even Google Search isn't as good anymore... lets be honest. However, Google is here to stay.

 

[N-A]

Even Google Search isn't as good anymore... lets be honest. However, Google is here to stay.

Google Search is good when you rank high.

 

[enlytend]

+1 this. (no pun intended)

I am glad I am not the only one to remember froogle before the rename!

I go back to those days too. And more importantly, when the Froogle "replacement", Google Product Search, was free. Now they're all Adwords PLA's (but the average person hasn't got a clue)

Now, its dumb down to encourage ad clicks (we can argue that they need to make money, beyond the scope of the discussion) and stemming is awful as its tricky to turn off - as soon as they switched between solely word stemming shop->shopped,shopping etc. to including related words such as store,market,supermarket etc when you cant turn it off its messed it up... you can quote phrases but other than that the old fashioned all other words are okay but +keep that word the same technique doesn't seem to work anymore. Perhaps there is an option in preferences to disable, who knows or who cares... too long winded for a quick web search :D

They removed the + search operator in 2011 or 2012, they removed the ~ (synonyms) last year. Hummingbird - trying for make it more conversational and interpretive, rather than keyword-driven.

 

[JB Lions]

If you have nothing to hide with your domains and your private/published content, then Google domains should be your first choice because they are known for their security and they remediate all issues very fast.

What Stub said. They don't have a great history of customer service. Back to what I posted about them shutting down the affiliate network. This is how they announced it: - http://googleaffiliatenetwork-blog.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-update-on-google-affiliate-network.html

On a blog nobody really reads. This was news on some forums, that's how most merchants found out, from affiliates, not Google. I remember trying to ask a question, get a real response back in the day with some PPC, never got a real answer. I can pick up the phone right now and call GoDaddy and have somebody help we with whatever I need. If you have those same expectations with Google, you'll probably going to get let down.

 

[Nattydomain]

I heard $12 for domains BUT one thing they have on their side is trust. End users should not have any issues feeling safe if the domain is with Google....will see how it plays out

 

[Name Trader]

Go google!
They found another way to add to their database more users and information.
And probably at some point in time, a domain through google will outrank other domains.

only on Google SERPS

 

[enlytend]

Initially, they're targeting SMB's, no doubt with the goal of upselling additional services (hosting, etc)
Good post from Mike Blumenthal (well known in local search circles)
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/06/23/google-enters-domain-reselling-for-smbs/

And it sounds like they're using a godaddy back end (???!!!)
They won't rank Google reg'd domains first, but if you're doing anything they might frown upon I'd steer clear.

 

[Dave_Z]

I'm surprised google doesn't just create their own extension then tweak their algorithm to rank their extension greater than any others.

Google's doing that might create anti-competition/anti-trust issues for themselves.

I'm curious how Google will handle the inherent issues of a domain registrar serving end users. Spam complaints, phishing reports, trademark claims, the works.

Then again, their domain registration thing is invite-only for now.

 

[DU]

I'm curious how Google will handle the inherent issues of a domain registrar serving end users. Spam complaints, phishing reports, trademark claims, the works.

Same way they do now.... shrug and hope Mark Zuckerburg makes a privacy change at Facebook.

 

[AEProgram]

wouldnt surprise me they end up buying a big registrar like web.com and their network sol, enom or godaddy etc

 

[DnEbook]

This is only to add to their 100 or so extensions they have applied for and in some cases already secured, .youtube .google .tube …..etc
~
I may have read somewhere they were giving away one idn extension for free for the first year

 

[SearchEngineZ]

It makes sense. Google has been a registrar for many years, and has also been selling domains as part of Google Apps packages.

$12 price spotted here:
http://domains.google.com/about/features.html

Also:
Google has partnered with web development companies Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix to provide an optional website hosting service for an additional fee.

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/388783,google-tests-domain-registration-service.aspx#ixzz35Xi7kIuE

One of my golden rules is don't use the same company for registration and hosting.

I don't know if I would think similarly for Google. They already know which domains I own (via WHOIS). I already use them for some domain > email services.

What could be the downside? Perhaps the idea that most registrars are so crap that Google could end up being the one and only registrar...

 

[RU]

I need an invite...

 

[johname]

Made Web,com's stock tank this morning:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12754706/1/why-webcom-group-wwww-stock-is-plummeting-today.html

 

[buyselldoms]

Google Search is good when you rank high.

haha, not talking about from a site owner perspective but the end user.

Google used to get decent results and the stemming used to be a decent feature.

Now, its dumb down to encourage ad clicks (we can argue that they need to make money, beyond the scope of the discussion) and stemming is awful as its tricky to turn off - as soon as they switched between solely word stemming shop->shopped,shopping etc. to including related words such as store,market,supermarket etc when you cant turn it off its messed it up... you can quote phrases but other than that the old fashioned all other words are okay but +keep that word the same technique doesn't seem to work anymore. Perhaps there is an option in preferences to disable, who knows or who cares... too long winded for a quick web search :D

 

[Dreads]

Ah, I need a domain register that the general public trusts and understands. Its hard to get my clients to trust namecheap, godaddy ect.. when it comes to entering personal information for a domain. So I can expect this to make my life a bit easier

Side note, first post in a couple years LOLOL