Google Domains is a domain name registrar owned and operated by Google. Google rolled out the product in 2014. As of the time of publishing it is still in beta.
Google Domains Review Takeaways
Key Strengths – Excellent usability, transparency, and integrations.
Key Complaints – Doesn’t have the lowest short-term or long-term pricing or complementary products.
Best For – Anyone who wants a simple, straightforward place to register a domain without any hassle or needs to set up yet another account.
Current Promotions – None
As a Googlephile and SEO consultant, I pretty much had to register a domain with Google Domains the day they started back in 2014. I’ve been a customer of them ever since.
Here’s my experience so far (going on 7+ years) and my full Google Domains review with pros & cons…
Before we look at the pros & cons, there are a couple of items to mention.
First, Google Domains is strictly a domain registration service. They allow you to claim, register & manage domain names plus set your DNS server settings. Google does not offer complementary services such as web hosting**. Google separately offers email and business services through Google Suite for Business (read my explainer on plans & pricing). Google Suite does require a custom domain name to get started.
**except for Google Sites, which is a limited website builder that provides storage (but not hosting) via Google Drive similar to a Google Doc.
We’ll explore this point more in the pros & cons, but it’s important to understand Google’s goal with Google Domains. They want “getting online” simpler & less daunting for very small and/or less tech-savvy businesses – that means getting these businesses a domain name.
And even further, it means making the process of getting a domain as simple & transparent as possible.
Second, it’s important to remember that a domain is not a website. It’s not email – or any other service. It’s analogous to your address in the offline world – it helps people locate where your property is. A domain simply tells browsers/email/etc where to go to get whatever it wants (website files, emails, images, data, etc).
If you want to set up a website, you’ll still need to get web hosting, purchase a website builder, or eCommerce provider that provides the hosting service.
All that said – let’s look at the pros & cons of using Google Domains as your domain registrar.
Pros of Google Domains
Interface / Backend
Google Domains promises to be simple and transparent. And you’ll notice it right off with their homepage and backend design.
It’s so minimalist that it’s nearly blank.
It has Google’s trademark design ethos (aka – the nearly blank Google Search page). Google Domains focuses on doing one thing and one thing only – domains.
Everything that you might need to do with your domain management is front and center. You can do a domain transfer, edit your DNS settings / DNS records, set up domain forwarding, edit an existing domain, or buy a new domain all on the main screen. It’s simple to manage multiple domain options at once.
The design has no upsells, no cross-sells, and no visual clutter. It’s honestly refreshing in contrast to the typical direct response offers from most domain & hosting companies.
Once you leave the site, you won’t even see striking retargeting ads. On Facebook, you’ll see just classy reminder ads. No offers – just a promise of simplicity and transparency.
When you need to point your domain to a host or website builder, it’s all there in a single place in your Google Domains account. There are literally just 3 options on the backend sidebar.
Google Domains’ interface is a refreshing pro in an industry where most small business owners have to put up with pop-ups, upsells, and confusing backends.
Integrations
Although Google Domains does not offer built-in complementary products, it does integrate very well with the most common web apps.
It syncs simply with G Suite (for email, storage, records, etc). And Google runs one of the best DNS servers (the system that tells a browser to go to a specific server to get files) on the Internet.
In fact, many webmasters will use Google’s DNS in place of their domain registrar’s or hosting service, which is a plus because it’s integrated well with Google Domains.
They have excellent email forwarding settings in addition to the G Suite integration. If you are just trying to set up a custom email address, it’s all straightforward.
A menu of (sponsored) common website builders is integrated directly in the “add website” dropdown. It includes:
All this leads to the next pro of overall simplicity.
Simplicity
If you are setting up your own website with a hosting provider, pointing your nameservers is directly in the domain menu. It’s one click.
But it’s more than just one click on a clean interface – even advanced functions are simple to find and operate.
If you want to leave Google Domains – unlocking your domain is simple (something that other domain name registrars make quite difficult). Requesting a transfer authorization code is right in the domain settings. Updating addresses are simple.
Discovering your billing history is simple. Since Google Domains uses your Google Account, it’s easy to pay and maintain (it pulls from your email and Google Wallet information).
Simplicity is the one thing Google Domains promises and they live up to it.
Transparent Value Pricing
Google Domains maintains a single price for each top-level domain (TLD). .Coms are $12/year.
Their pricing across the board is not the cheapest long or short term. They are a couple of dollars more expensive per year than Namecheap. And they don’t do short-term discounting like GoDaddy.
Google Domains does bundle WHOIS Privacy Protection with a domain purchase. WHOIS protection gives your domain privacy from spammers and scrapers.
So although Google Domains isn’t the cheapest, they do offer a solid total value pricing – and they are very transparent about what you’re getting.
Selection of New TLDs & Domain Extensions
In 2014, ICANN, the internet’s governing body, allowed for a lot more top-level domains (TLDs). This introduced a wide new selection into the domain name market, which use to be limited to .com, .net, a few other generics plus country-designated TLDs.
Now more businesses are looking for unique TLDs and domain extension options like .kitchen or .academy among hundreds of others. The issue now is making sure your domain registrar has all the ones you want to register.
There is one catch – Google Domains does not have every country designated TLDs. It’s a US-only service and has only “generic” TLDs (plus the .us country TLD). If you want a .co.uk or .ie domain – you’ll be out of luck.
Cons of Google Domains
Pricing
Like I mentioned in the pros section, Google Domain’s pricing focuses on simplicity and transparency. They include privacy in their pricing – and are cheaper than most hosting companies that offer domain registration.
However, when Google Domain’s pricing goes up against Namecheap or GoDaddy, they lose out. Namecheap’s pricing is transparent and consistently cheaper over the long term.
Namecheap also will run specials for various new TLDs that Google offers straight to retail.
GoDaddy is actually more expensive year to year than Google Domains. However, they also deeply discount domains in the first year (see their current promo here).
If you are just trying to secure domains quickly & cheaply, then GoDaddy will be a better bet on price for the first year. Namecheap will still be the better long-term option. If you plan on running a website, you can also find a web host that will provide a free domain for a year, notably:
Support
Google Domain’s interface & product is focused on eliminating any possible need for customer support. That said – stuff happens. And when stuff happens, you need support.
I’ve only had to use Google Domain’s support a few times, however, their support options are not best in the industry. They are plainly just fine. Their contact forms are buried and their phone support options are limited to US business hours. They do offer off-hours chat/email…and call-backs.
Support isn’t necessarily a con – but it’s not really a reason to choose Google Domains.
Complementary Products
Google Domain’s focus on only domains is a pro – but it’s also a con.
And that’s because there are several products that almost always go with a domain. If you want to make your site secure with SSL, you’ll need an SSL certificate associated with the domain.
You can buy it separately from a third party, but from my experience, managing it with your domain is simpler.
I like to separate my domains and hosting, but many owners prefer that their hosting and domains get bundled into one (even if it’s not ideal from a performance perspective).
Namecheap has competitive hosting; GoDaddy offers alright basic hosting with domains. And most hosting companies offer domain registration (or even free domains) with hosting purchase (such as InMotion Hosting or Bluehost).
Those kinds of products simply aren’t available with Google Domains. So if you want that kind of convenience, then you’re out of luck.
Selection of Country & Specific TLDs
Although Google Domains has a wide selection of generic domains, they do not support country-level or all high-dollar domains that other domain registrars do. As of 2020, they have around 297 TLDs available. For example, .fm is a common podcast domain –
Google Promise / Beta Status
The last con of using Google Domains as your domain provider is Google itself. At the end of 2021, the product is still in “beta” – or testing. It’s been in Beta for almost 7 years.
And while Google says that it’s a long-term project and a natural fit with their other business products like Google Suite and Google App Engine – Google also has a long history of shutting down well-known Google services… including growing and well-publicized ones.
They killed Google Reader, iGoogle, Google Apps for Teams, and Google Glass. Google has gone through countless changes with their local business product (aka Google Places, Google+ Local, Google MyBusiness, etc) and even Google+ – their highest-profile side project ever.
In other words, even though Google Domains has a lot of benefits with Google, domain names is not and never will be Google’s priority. Google Domains will always be under threat of shutting down – even if it’s doing well. If they did shut down – you wouldn’t lose your domain name but would have to transition companies on Google’s timeline.
Namecheap, GoDaddy, Hover, or other domain name registration companies only do domain name registration. They might go out of business, but as long as they are making money, they will never be unceremoniously shuttered.
The Google SEO Advantage / Disadvantage
Before looking at the next steps, I have to touch on one bit of SEO (search engine optimization) mythology. In the SEO world, there are 3 camps on Google products.
The first camp says that Google is inherently untrustworthy. They say you should never use their products because they just spy on you and are out to punish you. It’s all about tricking and outsmarting Google.
The second camp says that Google is SEO. They say you should use all their products and do everything they say. Google will always prefer their own products and will reward everyone that uses them. It’s all about cooperating and sucking up to Google.
The third camp says that neither of the first two camps rely on evidence or testing. The answer to all things SEO is “it depends.” Use Google products that suit your business; don’t use Google products that don’t work for you. Either way, focus on testing and doing the right things for your customers.
I’m in the third camp. I have never seen any evidence that Google Domains will “cleanse” or “un-blacklist” a domain. I’ve never seen any evidence that domains registered with Google get an advantage in the search results. I also have no idea why Google would even make that a factor.
Don’t buy into SEO snake oil when you are looking for a domain name registrar. The only tested SEO truth is that the internet is made up of domain names. And you do need a custom domain (not a .weebly.com or .wordpress.com or .blogspot.com subdomain) to build a long-term project around.
The registrar you choose should be based on pricing, convenience, usability, and support.
Video Review w/ Backend Tour
Next Steps
If you –
- are just looking to register a few generic domains for your business
- value simplicity and transparency
- don’t need a wide product selection
- don’t need a super-competitive price point
- trust Google as a company
…then Google Domains is a solid fit for you.
If you want lots of options and better pricing from a reputable company without the upsells, I’d recommend checking out Namecheap instead.
If you just want a super-cheap domain right now and plan to delete it or transfer it out once you put it to use, then go check out a GoDaddy domain special here…
Lastly, if you are more confused than ever, explore my BuzzFeed-esque quiz on choosing a domain registrar here.
