Google Is Sunsetting Country-Specific Search Domains

Google is in the process of consolidating the many international domains names that lead to google.com, eliminating sites such as google.co.jp and google.ru for Japan and Russia because the company says it no longer needs so-called “country code top-level domain (ccTLD)” names to provide local search results.

On the search giant’s products blog, the company said: “Over the years, our ability to provide a local experience has improved. In 2017, we began providing the same experience with local results for everyone using Search, whether they were using google.com or their country’s ccTLD.”

It went on to add: “Because of this improvement, country-level domains are no longer necessary. So we’ll begin redirecting traffic from these ccTLDs to google.com to streamline people’s experience on Search. This change will be rolled out gradually over the coming months, and you may be prompted to re-enter some of your Search preferences in the process.”

Google said the change will happen over the next few months and that no matter what people see in the address bar, Google’s search function will work the same. “Nor will it change how we handle obligations under national laws,” the company added in the blog post.

Google’s search business has been under scrutiny — last year, the company’s search business was declared a monopoly by a US federal judge and the Department of Justice recommended the company sell its Chrome business. Google also may be facing a $6.6 billion antitrust suit over search advertising in the UK.