It seems like Google is trying to get their fingers into every possible industry they can lately from automotive to home thermostats. In their most recent move, they appear to be looking to join the already crowded domain registrar business. They have just announced a new invite only beta service called Google Domains. According to Google, they will be offering domains for $12 (presumably per year) along with many other domain related services.
On their features page, they mention that they will be offering domains with no extra costs for adding private registration, free email aliases, customizable sub-domains, and a full suite of domain management tools.
In their official announcement, Google said, “Google Domains isn’t fully-featured yet, but we’re giving a small group of people the ability to buy and transfer domains through it and send feedback on their experience. (You currently need an invitation code to do so, sorry!) We want input on all the ways we can help make finding, buying, transferring and managing a domain a simple and transparent experience. We also want to make sure our customer support and infrastructure works flawlessly, and we have the right additional services (like mobile website creation tools and hosting services from a range of providers, as well as domain maangment support). We’re working with some of the top website building providers like +Shopify, +Squarespace, +Weebly, and +Wix.com to help make that happen.”
This could be a significant new profit stream for Google, and for many people it is really surprising that they haven’t done this much sooner. They have been an accredited registrar for a number of years, and this is one business that really fits in well with the services they already provide.
If you’re interested in getting your next domain from Google Domains, you can click HERE to request an invite and choose your new domain name. Currently, you just have to search for a domain name, and request an invite. There is no word on how many invites will be given out.
