Google is switching to one domain across the world

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Google is making a major change to how it handles its international search engine domains, and while it might sound technical, the impact for most users will be minimal. 

As per StatCounter, Google dominates the global search engine market, holding a staggering 89.74% share, while its nearest competitor, Bing, hovers just above 4%. (Via: Android Police)

A big reason for Google’s dominance is its aggressive strategy, like paying companies such as Apple billions every year to make Google the default search engine on their devices. 

On top of that, users rarely switch to alternatives, and Google continuously rolls out new features and improvements to keep users satisfied.

In its latest move, Google announced it’s gradually phasing out the use of country-specific web addresses, such as google.co.uk or google.ca. 

These country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) were once used to give people more localized search results. 

But Google says that’s no longer necessary. Thanks to advancements in location tracking, like using your IP address or the location you’ve shared with Google, the company can now offer accurate local search results from its main domain, google.com, without needing those separate country-specific URLs.

What this means for users is that they’ll start being redirected to google.com even if they visit a country-specific Google site. 

This change will happen gradually over the coming months. In some cases, people may be asked to reselect a few of their search settings, like their preferred language or region. 

But Google promises this will be a one-time step, and from there, users should get the same experience they’re used to, just under a different web address.

While the web address may look slightly different, Google reassures users that search quality and personalization will not be affected. 

Essentially, this change will simplify Google’s backend infrastructure without disrupting what it already offers.

What do you think about this change? Do you see it changing how you use Google at all? Tell us below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.