Google moves to unified ‘Google.com’ domain, phasing out country-specific URLs | Technology News
Google is moving away from country-specific domains in favour of a unified “Google.com” domain. Until now, Google used domains unique to each country, such as Google.co.in for India, Google.it for Italy, and many others. Starting April 15, the company will begin phasing out these country-specific domains in favour of Google.com.
“Today, we’ve updated the way we label country services on the mobile web, the Google app for iOS, and desktop Search and Maps. Now, the choice of country service will no longer be indicated the domain. Instead, default, you’ll be served the country service that corresponds to your location. So if you live in Australia, you’ll automatically receive the country service for Australia, but when you travel to New Zealand, your results will automatically switch to the country service for New Zealand. Upon returning to Australia, you will seamlessly revert back to the Australian country service,” said Evelyn Kao, Product Manager at Google, via a blog post.
Google has traditionally used country-specific domains to deliver more relevant search results. However, since 2017, the company has been utilizing real-time location data, allowing it to provide country-specific results even with a unified domain.
This update will be rolled out gradually over the coming months. For users, the search experience will remain largely the same. If users do not see content relevant to their location, they will have the option to manually select the appropriate country within the search engine.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Expand
