Google Domains shutting down, assets sold and being migrated to Squarespace

In an unexpected announcement today, Google Domains is “winding down following a transition period,” with Squarespace taking over the business and assets.

Squarespace announced today that it “entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Google, whereby Squarespace will acquire the assets associated with the Google Domains business.” This includes “approximately 10 million domains hosted on Google Domains spread across millions of customers.”

Google cited “efforts to sharpen our focus” in selling the Google Domains registrar business, which launched in 2014 as a big proponent of HTTPS and top-level domains (TLDs) as of late. The service exited beta in 2022.

This makes sense in the context of Google trying to be more efficient with resources and is at least better than shutting down the service without a guided migration path.

“Supporting a smooth transition for customers over the coming months, with the help of the Google Domains team, is our top priority. Squarespace can provide an integrated experience of purchasing and managing domains along with offering other tools that these customers may need to build their online presence.”

Matt Madrigal, Vice President and General Manager, Merchant Shopping of Google

As a domain name registrar, Google’s service offered features like no-cost WHOIS privacy and one-click DNSSEC (to protect against DNS spoofing and cache poison attacks), while taking advantage of the company’s speedy and reliable cloud infrastructure. Google Domains also offered a straightforward UI, and it remains to be seen whether Squarespace will ultimately match the experience.

Squarespace says it will “honor all existing Google Domains customers’ renewal prices for at least 12 months following the closing of the transaction,” which is expected to occur in Q3 2023. As such:

There is no immediate impact on your Google Domains account and there is nothing you need to do at this time. Once regulatory approvals are obtained and the transaction closes, you will become a customer of Squarespace, and your domain will be owned and, after a transition period, managed by Squarespace.

Google posted this support document today, with more information coming later.

More notable today is how Squarespace “will become the exclusive domains provider for any customer purchasing a domain along with their Workspace subscription from Google directly for a minimum of three years.”

Squarespace will also provide billing and support services to Google Workspace customers that signed up for the service through Google Domains. Customers will continue to have the option to make changes to their domains account at any time.