Google Domains halts registrations as it waits for the Google Grim Reaper
Google Domains has registered its last domain. Google announced in July that the service was getting shut down and that it had struck a deal with Squarespace to sell off the existing customer base. Part of that transition process means winding down the existing Google Domains functionality. 9to5Google was the first site to notice that you can no longer buy a domain through the service while it waits for the Google Grim Reaper to arrive.
Google Domain's homepage has a notice explaining that this all apparently went down a few days ago, saying, "On September 7, 2023 Squarespace acquired all domain registrations and related customer accounts from Google Domains. Customers and domains will be transitioned over the next few months." You can still manage existing domains on Google Domains, but that's it.
The Google Domains registration shutdown notice. (credit: Google)
Google Domains has been around since 2015 and spent seven of those years in "beta." The product exited beta status in 2022, only to be killed about a year later. For a while, it was a great service, with a clean, easy-to-use interface that stood in contrast to many domain registrars, especially in the early days.