With nearly 90% of the global market share, Google reigns supreme in online search. To strengthen this position, the American giant is embarking on a major transition: the gradual abandonment of national domain names like google.fr or google.co.uk, in favor of universal access via google.com.
Google Abandons Local Domains for Its Search Engine
Google has officially launched the gradual disappearance of national domain names, called ccTLDs for "country code top-level domains," like google.de or google.fr. Instead, all queries will be automatically redirected to a centralized version: google.com. This decision is based on the observation that the search engine's technology is now sufficiently refined to offer localized results, regardless of the domain used. Thanks to IP detection or user-shared location, geographic adjustment is now done transparently.
At Originally, each ccTLD allowed results to be customized by country, but this obsolete framework is expensive to maintain. Google is therefore simplifying its structure, while ensuring that the search experience remains unchanged. The only slight nuance: according to Google, users may have to reconfigure their preferences (language, filters, etc.) during this transition.
Almost Unchallenged Dominance
Despite competitors like Bing and DuckDuckGo, none can seriously compete with Google's supremacy. Today, the firm holds approximately 89.74% of the market share. in the world (source: statcounter), leaving barely 4% to Microsoft's closest rival. This near-monopoly is supported by massive deals, such as the one with Apple, which earned the latter several billion dollars to make Google the default search engine on its devices.
This refocusing on a single domain is not only technical; it also reflects Google's desire to strengthen its brand and streamline the management of a colossal infrastructure. For users, the illusion of a localized search engine remains intact, even if the address displayed in the navigation bar will change.
Source: Google
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