Google Domains and Squarespace saw new registrations drop following takeover

Last year Google abruptly announced that it had sold its domain registrar business to Squarespace, and it seems things aren’t exactly going great, as new data from the months following the takeover shows that new registrations are dropping.

In June 2023, it was revealed that Google Domains would shut down, with all domains transferring to Squarespace, which had purchased Google’s registrar business. By September 2023, Google Domains officially stopped selling new domains to customers, though the website is still active for managing domain controls down to today.

But, as expected, registrations of new domains has dropped as a result of all of this.

Data spotted by Domain Name Wire and published by ICANN shows that new registrations of .com domains from Google Domains and Squarespace combined dropped by around 25% the month that Google Domains ceased sales, from over 250,000 in August 2023 to just shy of 190,000 in September 2023. It’s a considerable decrease in a single month, though it’s unclear if the trend has continued as more recent data is not yet available.

Following the announced shutdown of Google Domains, other domain registrars have made offers to affected customers. WordPress, for example, offered to cover the costs of transfer plus one year of service for free for Google’s customers if they switched.

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