About the Squarespace purchase of Google Domains registrations (2024)

FAQs

Why is Squarespace buying Google Domains? ›

“Supporting a smooth transition for customers over the coming months, with the help of the Google Domains team, is our top priority. Squarespace can provide an integrated experience of purchasing and managing domains along with offering other tools that these customers may need to build their online presence.”

With few exceptions, your domain will not move to Squarespace until all of the features you were using on Google Domains are on Squarespace Domains. We support all DNS record types, custom nameservers, domain forwarding, email forwarding, DNSSEC, glue records, and more.

Annual Squarespace billing plans include one free domain for the first year of service. If you're on a trial, a monthly plan, or if you want multiple domains, you can register them at their listed price. Pricing for domains depends on the domain's top-level domain (TLD).

If you registered or transferred a domain to Squarespace, Squarespace is your domain provider. We sell domains through two registrars, Squarespace Domains LLC and as a reseller of Tucows domains. To determine which of these is your domain's registrar: Open your domains dashboard.

“Squarespace announced today it has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Google, whereby Squarespace will acquire the assets associated with the Google Domains business, which will be winding down following a transition period.

Our Verdict. Google Domains is a leading domain name registrar that stands out for its fixed, low-cost domain names, intuitive domain name search and free domain name privacy with every purchase.

Squarespace is a fantastic domain host with a low initial cost and a ton of built-in SEO and security features (which we'll discuss below). However, if you have domains from other third-party sites and want to keep them all in the same place, using a site like GoDaddy, BlueHost, NameCheap, or Google Domains is fine.

First if you submit the Squarespace built-in domain to Google for indexing then obviously that is a URL that Google will use. Second could be that if your site was available publically via the built-in domain for some amount of time Google could have picked it up that way.

If you're seeing nameserver errors and your domain is connected via DNS Connect, contact your domain provider to ensure that the domain's nameservers point to the host where you entered the records. Once you've confirmed you're using your domain provider's nameservers, manually connect your domain to Squarespace.

Squarespace domains

If you registered a domain through Squarespace, it won't automatically expire when you cancel your website subscription. All Squarespace domains will still be yours and will continue to auto-renew on their renewal date.

How much is Squarespace yearly domain fee? ›

Buy Squarespace domains

You can register domain names on any Squarespace plan. Each domain name is $20 to $70 per year. Pricing depends on the domain's top-level domain (TLD). As long as you have a credit card on file or SEPA payment details added to the Billing panel, you can purchase domain name(s) from Squarespace.

Usually, we recommend transferring your domain. This way, you can manage all aspects of your site from one service instead of two, and Squarespace can help with any issues with your domain directly.

NEW YORK, Sept. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Squarespace, Inc.

You can buy a custom domain from Squarespace, even if you don't have a website yet. If you purchase an annual Squarespace plan, you get an eligible custom domain free for one year. Buying a domain with Squarespace is quick, easy, and seamless.

Users have the autonomy to manage their content, and if they choose to leave the platform, they can take their domain and export their content, albeit losing some platform-specific features such as custom CSS and scripts. However, while users own their content, they do not own the Squarespace platform itself.

The typical annual cost of a .com domain name registered with Google is, and has been for many years, $12. The typical annual cost of buying that same .com domain name through Squarespace is currently $20.

Learn more. Squarespace bought out Google Domains, not Google Workspace. However, Squarespace is a reseller of Google Workspace, and you may have purchased it from them.

Squarespace acquired Google Domains on September 8, 2023, and we now have an idea of how important the Google brand name was to ginning up registrations there.