The ongoing roll-out of dot brand domains by multinational technology company and search engine giant Google is providing companies with multiple use cases for their own dot brand strategies. Whether used for corporate websites, product promotions or redirects, the company’s investment in .GOOGLE is also increasing consumer awareness and expectations for dot brand domains.
Initiative: From corporate to product pages, DOT GOOGLE has blazed the way by establishing use cases at every turn.
Main model of use: Full migration and redirects.
Key benefits: Short, memorable and clearly branded URLs, which provide direct access to specific information, services and tools.
Download Use Case PDFGoogle went live with BLOG.GOOGLE, its first site under .GOOGLE, in 2016. BLOG.GOOGLE provided the opportunity to test the waters, as it enabled the company to unite nine separately designed and hosted blogs under one brand (“The Keyword”) and under one instantly recognisable domain. This was followed by the launch of .GOOGLE domains for corporate content, such as SUSTAINABILITY.GOOGLE, DIVERSITY.GOOGLE and, later, ABOUT.GOOGLE.
This was the beginning of a strategy to use .GOOGLE to “talk about ourselves”, noted Christina Chiou Yeh during a presentation at the ICANN’s Contracted Parties Summit in November 2022. It required some internal education before the strategy could be rolled out. However, once you have established a first strong use case, more will naturally follow: “With BLOG.GOOGLE being such a public-facing use case, it legitimise[d] the use of .GOOGLE for other marketing teams who [were] hesitant to dip their toes in the water,” she said.
...dot brands enable registrants to create a distinctive and cleanly branded online presence that is easy for web users to find and explore.
Google now has between 100 and 150 .GOOGLE sites live at any one time. Examples of fully migrated product pages include TV.GOOGLE for its entertainment screening business, DESIGN.GOOGLE and CREATORS.GOOGLE for website design, LENS.GOOGLE for its Google Lens product, PIXEL.GOOGLE for the Google phone, GROW.GOOGLE for its eLearning platform, and BUILT-IN.GOOGLE for using Google Maps as an in-car satnav.
Google has also created dedicated URLs for specific Google marketing campaigns, as well as branding around core values, from health & well-being to investment in innovation and support for political causes. Examples of marketing sites include SHOPSMALL.GOOGLE (for a joint campaign with American Express to support Small Business Saturday in the US) and NEXTBILLIONUSERS.GOOGLE (which conducts research and builds products for people around the world who don’t yet have access to the internet).
Domains to support core values and innovation include AI.GOOGLE, HEALTH.GOOGLE and WELLBEING.GOOGLE (for “digital wellbeing through technology”). Meanwhile sites such as CRISISRESPONSE.GOOGLE, ELECTION.GOOGLE, PRIDE.GOOGLE and WOMENWILL.GOOGLE profile specific causes which align with Google’s corporate values.
Other URLs provide quick links to fundamental technical resources, including DNS.GOOGLE and SRE.GOOGLE, while still others provide easy access to necessary resources, such as PASSWORDS.GOOGLE and WALLET.GOOGLE.
In addition, Google has several URLs dedicated to internet safety and security, including SHOPPINGADVICE.GOOGLE and PROTECTINGCHILDREN.GOOGLE, plus URLs that ensure secure access to safe content for parents and teachers, such as FAMILIES.GOOGLE and TEACHFROMANYWHERE.GOOGLE.
