Highlights

• Google will redirect all country-specific domains (e.g., google.co.in, google.fr) to google.com globally.
• Search results will remain tailored to the user’s location, ensuring local content complies with laws and preferences.
• The update is rolling out worldwide over the next few months.

Caption – Google Search to soon be Google․com globally. (Image credit – Google)

Google is making a big change to how people access its Search service across the world. Until now, users in different countries were taken to their local versions of Google like google.co.uk in the UK, google.fr in France, or google.co.in in India. These country-specific domains have been around for years to offer more localised search results. But that’s about to change. Here’s what we know.

Google Search Switching To Google․com

Google has announced in a blog post that it will start phasing out these country-coded domains and instead redirect everyone to google.com, no matter where they are. The idea is to simplify the experience while still showing results that are relevant to your current location.

This update might sound new, but it’s actually been in motion for a while. Since 2017, Google has already been using your real-time location to show local results even if you were using Google.com instead of a local domain. So now, the company is just aligning the website address with that same logic. One domain for everyone.

Does This Change How Google Works?

It’s important to note that this won’t change how Search works. You’ll still see results based on where you are. So if you’re in Japan, you’ll continue to see Japanese results, and if you’re in Brazil, your results will reflect that location. The only thing that might change is if you had custom settings like language or region preferences you might need to reconfigure those.

Google also made it clear that this update won’t impact how it handles content based on local laws or legal requirements. Even though the URL will be the same for everyone, the content will still be tailored to your location.

The company says the move will help create a simpler and unified user experience. With mobile and AI tools playing a bigger role in Search, Google believes the actual domain name isn’t as important anymore because your location data already does most of the work when it comes to showing you the right content.

Rollout Timeline

The shift is being rolled out gradually, so users around the world will start seeing this change over the next few months. Once it’s fully in place, if you type a local Google domain like google.ca or google.com.au, you’ll be automatically redirected to google.com.

FAQs

Q1. Why is Google redirecting all country-specific domains to Google.com?

Answer. Google aims to simplify the search experience globally while retaining location-based results tailored to users’ current locations.

Q2. Will the redirect to Google.com affect local search results or content compliance?

Answer. No, search results will remain localised based on real-time location and comply with regional laws, even with the unified domain.

Q3. When will the changes to Google Search domains be implemented?

Answer. The update is being gradually rolled out globally over the next few months, automatically redirecting users from local domains to Google.com.

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