If you use Google Search today, chances are you likely won’t notice any difference between google.com and google.com.my in terms of the results. For this reason, Google will be phasing out country-specific websites (country code Top Level Domain, ccTLD) – meaning if you use google.com.my in the future, it gets redirected to google.com instead.
Google Search Phases Out ccTLD
The reasoning behind this switch is simple: ccTLD is no longer needed to serve the function for Google Search to identify user’s general location and deliver region-specific search results. Similar implementation can already be seen on YouTube, where it uses the universal youtube.com domain but you’ll still see the region you’re in next to the YouTube logo.
“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. 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,” said Google in the blog post.
This switchover will happen “gradually over the coming months,” and users will not see any changes in terms of search behavior, although Google notes that users may be prompted to re-enter some of the preferences in the process. The company also added that the removal of ccTLD will not affect its status in relation to various country laws.
Pokdepinion: End of an era, I suppose.
