A lot has been said about the importance of giving your business an online presence. From getting an increased audience, multiplying conversion rates, to expanding market size and showcasing a portfolio, there is just so much to gain. There is even the part of amassing high returns on investments, depending on your marketing tactics. Still, the underlying point remains that any business with an online presence stands to perform better when compared to its direct competition.
Creating an online business for your brand begins with the registration of a domain name. It determines your brand's engagement, how your customers reach you online, and their perception of you.
There are tons of domain registrars online today to commence your online visibility journey. And Google is not left out of the mix. With an array of online solutions, Google – a tech giant and the world's largest search engine – began its domain registration service in 2014.
This article has everything you need to know about Google's domain service. You will get to know how Google Domain works, its features, and how you can use it. Here, you will also see how Google Domain compares to other domain registration services. But first, let us discuss what Google is.
Google Domains: What is it?
As its name implies, this is the domain registration started by tech giants Google. It is not the first time Google will be venturing into the business of domain registration. In the past, it used third-party services like Godaddy to offer domain purchasing services. This supported its BlogSpot domain service and Google apps.
Google announced its Google Domain service in 2014. So far, this service is in its early years. However, it functions in a similar way to other domain name registration services. What it means is that you can go to Google directly to register your new domain name or even transfer your existing domain. This allows you to create your website, custom emails, and integrate them into third-party services.
Features of Google Domain Service
Google has been in the business of domain registration before the inception of Google Domain. But, this time around, it stands as a domain registrar – selling domain names directly to its users. Here are several features to look out for with the Google Domain service.
Free Private name registration
Private name registration weighs on the mind of many domain name owners when registering domain names. They prefer registering their domains without revealing personal details about themselves on public servers. Thanks to Who.is guard, this is very possible. Unlike many other domain registration services, Google Domains offers free Who.is guard. Purchasing a Google Domain comes with a free private name registration. This is also applicable when transferring your domain from other registrars to Google.
Branded Domain Emails
Branded Domain Emails are important to any business with an online business. Apart from creating an online channel to interact with clients, business domain emails attach credibility to the business. Google Domain allows you to create hundred email aliases, which can be forwarded to your Google account. It is not yet certain whether Google will offer its branded domain email services through Google apps or not. It is worth noting that Google apps for businesses, which were once free are no longer free. So, how Google's Branded Emails will work is not fully known at this time.
Domain Forwarding
Every domain owner knows how domain forwarding is integral to a domain service. This is one feature that Google Domain offers. With it, users can forward their domain to a different domain. If you have the domain abc.com as the main site, with other domain extensions like abc.xyz, abc.tech, abc.design, you can easily direct your web visitors to your extension domains or vise versa. This is standard with virtually all domain registrars online.
Domain Management Tools
Domain management tools ease the life of domain owners. As with others, Google Domain comes with management tools feature that allows you to edit your name server records, CNAME, and A record. The extent of Google’s Domain management tools is not fully known. But it will be amazing to see Google integrate core internet service tools like Google Search Console, and Google tag manager to its range of management tools. However, such thoughts are not out of line as Google itself mentioned the possibility of integrating subdomain forwarding, Google Apps services, and Google App Engine with Google Synthetic Records.
Integration with popular website builders
Google partners with popular website builders to ensure that users get outstanding website designs to promote their businesses or portfolio. With Google Domain, you can expect to access Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and Shopify services to create amazing websites. And the beauty of this feature is that you can do so with no technical experience.
Asides from popular website builder integration, you can access standard Domain Registrar features such as Domain locking and custom subdomains.
G Suite Integration
G Suite, another of Google’s flexible products allows for the unlimited storage of documents, emails, files, and photos. This cloud-based platform differs from the general Google account, which is free. The free Google account gives users limited storage access until they upgrade their accounts. But there is more to G Suites as it has become an integral part of many businesses. Often misconceived as only an email hosting app, G Suite consists of several intelligent Google apps that can improve your business processes. These include Gmail, Hangouts, Keep, Forms, Slides, Google Sites, Docs., and Sheets.
Google Domain is giving users access to integrate these tools with no stress. It means that you can set up several custom emails for your team under your domain name.
How to use Google Domain
Registering a domain with Google is quite straightforward. However, there are things you must know to get the most of Google Domains.
Google is renowned for offering simple and functional solutions for its users. Like its other products, Google Domains is simple to use but has some peculiar functions. First, you must know that Google Domain is not available to everyone. Yes, only a few areas on the planet can access it. To use Google Domain, you must have a billing address in one of the United Kingdom, United States, Netherlands, Mexico, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Canada, France, Indonesia, India, Australia, and Brazil.
On visiting the Google Domain site, you will meet a clean interface with a search bar that gives access to over 300 domain extensions. On clicking the ‘all endings” tab, you can see what extensions are available for the domain you seek. You can add your preferred choice using the 'add to cart' button and proceed to checkout. Google requires you to fill the ICANN form with your details to checkout.
Pros
Wide range of TLDs
Straightforward and easy to use
It easily integrates with popular site builders
Clear checkout process
Cons
It is available in only a few countries
Wrapping Up
As one would normally expect from Google, its domain registration service is of standard. Still, it is not bringing an exceptional feature that differs from other registrars. Also, it is only accessible in a few countries, meaning that we cannot expect it to dominate the domain registration sphere just yet.
However, Google Domain is straightforward to use and has an excellent interface. It offers a similar top-notch experience to other Google products. What makes Google Domain peculiar is it has no hidden fees attached to domain registration and no upsells. For beginners, it is a great choice to register a domain without complexities. Advanced users will also find it useful as it offers integration to G suite and popular website builders. Whatever your skillsets are, you will find Google Domain to be resourceful, provided you are located in one of its service regions.
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