Yesterday news that Google is launching a retail domain name registrar, generated a ton of press outside the domain industry.
There is a lot of speculation of how successful he entry of Google into the registrar business will be, how much market share will Google Domains will gain and how it will effect other registrars, mostly Godaddy whose is going public this year.
As we know Godaddy is the worlds largest registrar, with its sister registrar Wild West Domains also in the top 10
Web.com registrars of Network Solutions and Register.com both in the top 10
Demand Media’s Enom, which includes NameCheap.com numbers is number 2.
Here is the top 20 domain name registrars according to RegistrarStats.com:
So the question is what do spot do you think Google will be on this chart one year after Google Domains is live to the general public?
You can vote on the poll on the right and for bragging rights you can also comment below
Your choices are:
Not in the top 20
1
2
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5
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10
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20
IMHO, It of course depends on how Google will provide its registrar service to consumers. If they can meet the following basic requirements faithfully, their growth will be remarkable.
1. No stolen domains.
2. No stupid replies to customers’ support requests.
3. Hassle-free two factor authentication. No bs software downloads, no complex configurations, etc.
About 1. I have no idea how Google will try to protect domains from hacking.
About 2. I guess this is the easiest requirement to fulfill, but not easily fulfilled by some registrars. I feel like communicating with ghosts with some so-called “Support Team” members of some registrars.
About 3. I am sure Google will be able to provide this two-factor authentication service excellently for its worldwide customers. My cellphone is not a smart phone, but an old style 3G phone and I am currently out of the USA. But, I got a verification message thru this old phone the instant I pushed a button for personal verification from Google. Just excellent. This will bring a lot of non-US customers to Google Registrar.
it all depends on the pricing i think. at least for domainers. i think seo people will avoid them out of fear the knowledge about who owns what domains might impact search ranking, etc. i really doubt they will be able to beat godaddy in terms of pricing and no one knows what customer service will be like since google has never had to provide much customer service for anything previously. trying to get help with things like blogger has never been easy.
I am not sure what percentage of domain registrations are held by domain investors by I would suspect it is a healthy percentage of the total. What would cause me to transfer a domain from an existing registrar to Google? Price is not the only factor as I now have a history of contacting a rep at Godaddy for numerous issues. I also sell on occasion domains either through Godaddy Premium Listings or Godaddy Auctions and so that creates an incentive to keep domains registered there – receive an email that the domain has sold, they take it out of my account and I get paid a week later. Will Google take market share? Yes, but unless they acquire an existing player I don’t see them in the top ten at least in the first year.