Recent Posts
- The Swiss can register .swiss domains from next week
- .ai up to 425,000 domains
- A million “free” .music domains up for grabs
- D3 to get $5 million in crypto to apply for .ape gTLD
- Alibaba hit with ICANN breach notice
- New Vegas conference “Davos for Web3 interoperability”
- ICANN content policing power grab may be dead
- Cable company unplugs its dot-brand after acquisition
- Germany crosses 10,000 dot-brand domains milestone
- Founders out as Com Laude gets equity injection
- PIR’s Diaz to leave domain industry
- Some registrars have already quit ICANN’s Whois experiment
- ICANN opens $217 million Grant Program
- Internet could get one-letter gTLDs (but there’s a catch)
- .ai registry fights deadbeats with tweaked auction rules
- Amazon and Google among .internal TLD ban backers
- .ai registry advises buyers not to use GoDaddy
- .post liberalizes with new sunrise period
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- GoDaddy’s next .xxx contract may not be a done deal
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- Microsoft moving its cloud apps from .com to .microsoft
- ICANN 79: anonymous trolls and undercover lawyers
- ICANN scores win in single-letter .com lawsuit
- Cosmetics brand terminates its gTLD
- Up to 70 jobs on the line at Nominet as .uk regs dwindle
- Governments back down on new gTLD next round delay
- Private auctions could be banned in new gTLD next round
- ICANN meeting venue “insensitive and hurtful”
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- GAC spinning up new gTLD curveball at ICANN 79?
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- Police .uk domain takedowns dive in 2023
- GoDaddy wants to cut the bullshit from .xxx
- Dueling domain blocking services to launch at ICANN 79
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- Olive retires from ICANN
- Whois policy published without life-saving disclosure rule
- UK gov takes its lead from ICANN on DNS abuse
- Tucows reports 2023 results
- Twitter “completely unresponsive” on clickable domains
- ICANN spends $5 million more than planned in first fiscal half
- .art takes a million domains off its premium list
- KeyTrap ‘the most devastating vulnerability ever found in DNSSEC’
- Freenom settles $500 million Meta lawsuit and will exit domain business
- New gTLD lottery to return in 2026
- First GlobalBlock prices revealed — they ain’t cheap
- Domain universe grows on new gTLDs despite .com shrinkage
- D3 signs up crypto gTLD client number five
- GoDaddy reports strong domains growth
- How to qualify for a $40,000 gTLD
- Registry service provider evaluation handbook published
- WebUnited inks deal to “mirror” country’s TLD in the blockchain
- GoDaddy project unveils brand-blocking calculator
- Report: Monster “misappropriated” millions from Epik
- .com is shrinking but Verisign raises prices again anyway
- D3 announces fourth crypto new gTLD client
- Donald Trump loses second UDRP case
- UK cybersquatting complaints hit record low
- No excuses! PIR to pay for ALL registries to tackle child abuse
- ICANN insists it is working on linkification
- Namecheap sues ICANN over .org price caps
- GoDaddy offers free Ethereum blockchain integration
- Epik reveals who is running the company
- Epik gets acquired again! The plot thickens…
- Airline gTLD crashes and burns
- First chunks of new gTLD Applicant Guidebook drop
- Epik to reveal its owners soon
- Another crypto firm to apply for a new gTLD
- Monster and Royce are NOT involved in Epik?!
- Nominet to overhaul .uk registry, turn off some services
- Russia blames DNSSEC, not Ukraine, for internet downtime
- Team Internet says revenue beat estimates
- Sold for over $20k, insure.ai and dog.ai back in .ai’s expired names auction
- .ai helps UDRP cases rise in 2023, WIPO says
- Freenom’s domains land at Gandi after termination
- .ru domains fly off the shelf as Western sanctions bite
- ICANN picks its first ever Supreme Court
- Lebanon’s ccTLD going back to Lebanon after ICANN takeover
- ICANN picks the domain it will never, ever release
- ICANN approves domain takedown rules
- Has Epik gone “woke”?
- First bits of new gTLD Applicant Guidebook expected next week
- ICANN bans closed generics for the foreseeable
- You can’t use money to buy .box domains
- After 14 years, ICANN practices what it preaches on IDNs
- Weak demand for private Whois data, ICANN data shows
- .ing doing way better than .meme
- DNS Women barred from ICANN funding?
- Dev releases free open-source TLD registry platform
- INCO flips a gTLD to Identity Digital
- Anguilla fears the .ai junk drop
- Five more gTLDs get launch dates
- $10 million of ICANN cash up for grabs
- Almost 50,000 .ai domains sold in a quarter
- ICANN threatens to regulate your speech [RANT]
- Life insurance company kills dot-brand
- ICANN finds new home for Lebanon’s TLD after founder’s death
- ICANN begs people to use its new Whois service
- Shiba Inu outs itself as crypto new gTLD applicant
- Over 50,000 .ai domains sold in three months
- Amazon planning new push into registrar market?
- Registries and registrars vote ‘Yes’ to new DNS abuse rules
- ICANN predicts flattish 2025 for domain industry
- Fast-growing Gname buys another 150 registrars
- GoDaddy service to let you block domains in over 650 TLDs
- Did I find a murder weapon in a zone file?
- ICANN drops the “man” from Ombudsman
- Have your say on police domain takedown powers
- Most registrars are shunning ICANN’s new Whois system
- Nominet to take over .gov.uk
- ICANN picks Istanbul for 2024 meeting
- ICANN’s private Whois data request service goes live
- .au regs slide on 2LD anniversary
- ICANN accused of power grab over $271 million auction fund
- A registrar is getting blamed for an Israeli war propaganda site
- Two more dot-brands bite the dust
- Google sells five-figure AI domain and six-figure .ing hack
- .blackfriday is still a bit rubbish
- Internet Naming Co acquires five more gTLDs
- Domain universe grows despite .com drag
- Did somebody spend a million bucks on a Google domain hack?
Four reasons Google Domains isn’t a Go Daddy killer
Judging by DI’s traffic spike last night, there’s a lot of interest in Google Domains, Google’s forthcoming entry into the domain name registrar market.
And judging by some of the early commentary, it seems that many people are already assuming that the service will be an overnight success.
Some people already seem to be willing to write off market leader Go Daddy specifically, for some peculiar reason.
I’ve even heard speculation that Google timed its announcement to screw with Go Daddy’s imminent IPO, which strikes me as veering into conspiracy theory territory.
While I’ve no doubt Go Daddy and other mass-market retail registrars will be watching Google’s move with interest and concern — and there are some reasons to be worried — let’s not jump the gun here.
Let’s calm the hyperbole a little. Off the top of my head, here are a handful of reasons not to get excited just yet.
1. It could be a really shitty product
There seems to be an assumption in some quarters that whatever Google brings to market will be automatically incredible, but the company really doesn’t have the track record to support that assumption.
Sure, its search engine may be great and services such as Gmail and Adsense may be pretty good, but have you ever tried Blogger?
Do you actually use Google+, or do you only have an account because Google forced you?
The truth is that lots of Google products fail.
And we haven’t even seen Google Domains yet. Nobody has. Only Google employees and their buddies are going to get beta access, so it seems we’re going to be waiting a while before we can judge.
2. There’s no 24×7 support
Google Domains will launch with support via email and phone from 9am to 9pm US Eastern time, Monday to Friday.
Would you switch to a registrar that doesn’t have round-the-clock support seven days a week? As a small business owner who makes his living from his web site, I sure wouldn’t.
If Google Domains gains traction you can expect support hours to be expanded pretty quickly, but a lack of 24×7 support at launch will keep many customers away.
3. It’s not free
Some people seem to be obsessed with the notion that Google is going to give away free domains, and that kind of commentary is continuing even though we know Google Domains will charge $12 for a .com.
Its email service may come at no additional cost, but its email service is Gmail, and that’s already free. Google could hardly start charging an add-on fee for something that’s always been free.
Google Domains may offer free privacy too, but so do lots of other registrars.
In future, Google registry arm Charleston Road Registry may give away free names in some of its new gTLDs, but if it does so that price will have to be available to all registrars, not just Google Domains.
Google Domains isn’t free. It’s not even the cheapest registrar on the market.
4. Go Daddy is gigantic
According to its recent regulatory filings, Go Daddy has 57 million domains under management and 12 million customers.
How many of those do you think will make the switch to Google? How many will even know that such a switch is possible?
Switching registrars may be relatively straightforward if everything you own is parked, but it becomes more complex when you’re running your web site, email and so forth on your registrar’s platform.
These kinds of small business owners are the customers being targeted by Google and Go Daddy, and if they already have web sites they’re likely already experiencing registrar lock-in.
According to its announcement, Google is targeting greenfield opportunities — the 55% of small businesses it estimates don’t have an online presence today — rather than grabbing market share from rivals.
The “small businesses need to get online” story is common to every press release issued by every web host and domain registrar with a price promotion to plug.
When Google teamed up with Blacknight to give away domains for free — for FREE, so it is, so it is — to Irish small businesses, it managed to sign up 10,000 in one year.
How long do you think it will take Google to get to 57 million names under management?
Gmail is free, but Google Apps for Your Domain is not and it’s currently rated at USD5/user/month. 100 users would 5*100*12 = USD 6,000 a year and they are offering it at USD 12 a year just for using their registrar. That’s quite a discount even if it’s not free.
Seems many didn’t read the Google’s info page fully. Emails are not free.. email aliases are… you can configure 100 aliases that would redirect to existing email addresses. Forget Google Apps.
Props to Google for innovating again! But took them long enough. Take down those greedy Go Daddy bastards! They’ll have free privacy service for your domains. Privacy is the biggest rip-off in domains. Go Daddy makes a killing on that! It’s highway robbery. Costs them nothing. And now they’ve been limiting the registration promo codes. It’s a joke. How much time have I wasted trying to find promo codes that work? TONS! Searching like 5 different sites to find one I haven’t used before that still works. ***Google, make sure you guys have competitive promo codes for registration AND transferring so we can transfer away from Go Daddy.*** Namecheap now has like $8 codes to transfer away from GD. Match that Google. More competition is exactly what’s needed in the industry. GD is abusing their power and taking advantage of us, They’ve even upped the renewal prices and cut back on the renewal code discounts. Totally uncalled for. That’s just greedy It’s like they’re slowly getting greedier and greedier. They ain’t hurting for profits. Someone needs to hold them accountable! Take them down Google and make them compete and lower their prices. There is NO competition in the domain industry. Go Daddy sucks.
One thing I will call Google on is what took so long to make a full-fledged registrar service? They’ve had the ICANN acceditation for ages. That was just lazy guys.
They got the accreditation originally just so that they could have a seat at the ICANN table.
I recall Vint Cerf said several years ago that the original intent was to see if it could access to registration data to help optimize the search algorithm. But it didn’t.
Rubens, they are offering email forwarding, not 100 real email accounts like at Google Apps.
Thanks for clarifying that.
One of the reasons so many Google products fail is their ridiculously defensive way of releasing them as closed betas. All that does is frustrate and alienate lots of people, waste the initial publicity around the launch and stop wiling customers from using the product. Whether that will effect this product remains to be seen but it’s not the best way to start.
Great post. I love Godaddy and the support they offer. Once you get to a cetrtain level of domains they appoint you an executive team to help manage your domain and website issues. I can barely figure out how to get rid of a google+ account that I inadvertently signed up for years ago. It’s quite a chore to try to even contact Google. You have to get (and find) a new support pin every time you call in. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t see me switching to google domains unless the support gets to the level where GoDaddy is. GoDaddy offers internet specialists to help you. 95% of them are really good. I have learned a ton from them. That is what builds loyalty. I use Bluehost and Hostgator, not even in the same league. GoDaddy has the energy and they will not be easy to defeat.
I suspect this will be very successful, largely off the back of the popularity of the Google Apps offering. Yahoo had a great deal of success with their domain offering, based largely on the popularity of their other services..
Your point about many Google products failing is well made, but domain registration isn’t exactly rocket science.
I definitely think Google makes this work. The stakes are too high because names touch so many different parts of their business from search optimization to paid search to mail. Google has the resources and will bring ever greater quantities of them to bear as they grow this piece of their business. The rising tide will force others to up their game and will bring huge consumer benefit in the years ahead. I pity Apple in all this. Those guys just can’t get the Web right whether it’s missing the G opportunity or making their browsers (mobile safari) compatible with new G’s.. Company really seems rudderless these days.
To Google’s credit, they’re playing by their own rules. Google “register website name” or “register domain” and GoDaddy and Register.com are still in the top slots.
The CEO decided to transfer our domain over to Google Domains without mentioning it to I.T. (yours truly). He sent me an email after the fact and I warned him that we could eat a lot of downtime. Sure enough, we did. I spent hours trying to fix the problems.
Note that Google has willfully broken one site after another on purchase for Internet Explorer users. In this case, Google Domains just freezes completely, preventing even a single keystroke from happening in IE 11. This is a planned denial-of-service and I know this because I’ve designed websites since there were websites.
^ “on purpose” (spellcheck error)
Googles recipe for choking off rapid Online business expansion, is tied into the fallacy that new GTLDs will promote Online Business growth. The only thing the new GTLDs and other extensions that Google supports do is add more pages of competitors for Google to bill for their ad system. New GTLDs strengthen Googles stranglehold on Internet traffic being manipulated to keep Googles Ad base Dependent and paying fees to actually get their business’s lost in Googles dysfunctional Business locating Maze.
In this GOOGLE Generic Alphabet soaked atmosphere, you need to differentiate your companies Brand. Its a matter of Online Business survival. Its not enough that you crave your Brands differentiation from the pack of competitors you are competing with. The Big question is how will Search Engine Marketing contribute to your cause?
The Search Engine Marketing Model that Google-Centric Admen use unknowingly suckers your Business into a traffic stealing maze that, leads your Businesses Brand into a jungle or maze of never ending competitive choices in page after page of never ending choices, further Marginalizing and Diluting your businesses Brands ability to stand apart from Googles assemblage of page after page of your businesses most feared competitors, that are just one Click away on the same page as yours !
So if you do not want to expose your online business traffic to be channeled away from you and sent to your competitors, by all means steer clear of the Google MADMEN. Its a trap that many businesses are in.
Gratefully, Jeff Schneider (Contact Group) (Metal Tiger) (Former Rockefeller IBEC Marketing Analyst/Strategist) (Licensed CBOE Commodity Hedge Strategist) (Domain Master ) https://www.UseBiz.com
New bug on the Google Domains admin page: Add an email forward and *after* you press the submit button their spellchecker decides to “fix” your (assumed) spelling errors in the destination email address, sending a notification to THAT person instead!
Seriously not ready for primetime, folks.