Google Is Saying Goodbye to Country-Specific Domains — Here’s What It Means

If you've ever typed google.co.uk into your browser, you're not alone — it's been the go-to for UK users for years. But those days are coming to an end. Google has started phasing out all country-specific domains, which means sites like google.fr, google.co.in, and yes, google.co.uk, will soon redirect automatically to google.com.

This marks a major shift in how Google delivers its services around the world — but it’s also the natural next step in a change that’s been years in the making.

What’s Changing – And Why Now?

Google actually stopped tying search results to the domain you visited as far back as 2017. Since then, results have been determined by your physical location, not whether you typed in .co.uk or .com. So for most people, this new change is more about what you see in the address bar than what you get in your results.

According to Google, their localisation technology has come far enough that ccTLDs (country-code top-level domains) are no longer necessary. Whether you're in the UK, Brazil or Japan, the idea is that google.com can detect your location and deliver relevant content — no matter the domain.

As stated in Google’s official announcement:

“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.”

Will Anything Actually Change for Users?

In practice, not much. You’ll still see local search results. The only noticeable change is that typing a country-specific address like google.co.uk will now take you to google.com.

You might be asked to log in again or reconfigure your search preferences — things like language, region or safe search settings. But this is expected to be minimal.

If you want to manually update your region, go to google.com, scroll to the bottom, click Settings > Search settings, and adjust your Region Settings.

What Does This Mean for Businesses and Marketers?

For most users, this is cosmetic. But for digital marketers and local businesses, it’s more significant.

Country-specific domains used to signal local relevance to both users and search engines. Seeing a .co.uk in the address bar helped build trust that you were dealing with a UK-specific site.

With ccTLDs being phased out, businesses now need to rely on other localisation tactics:

• Writing locally relevant content
• Using regional keywords
• Keeping Google Business Profiles up to date
• Adding structured data and schema markup
• Setting region and language preferences in Search Console

It’s a shift away from relying on URLs and towards smarter, more comprehensive localisation strategies.

A Bit of History

Google introduced country-specific domains in the early 2000s as it expanded internationally. These ccTLDs made it easier to serve localised results and comply with local laws.

By 2017, however, Google changed course. Search results began to rely on your device’s location, not the domain you typed in. The URL became less important as Google leaned into more personalised, context-aware results.

Now in 2025, the transition is complete. Google is retiring ccTLDs entirely in favour of a single, global domain — google.com.

Is This About Cost, Too?

Google hasn’t said this explicitly, but it’s likely part of the motivation. Maintaining dozens of separate domains involves infrastructure, legal, and security overheads. A single domain is simpler to manage, cheaper to maintain, and easier to scale globally.

It also ensures a more consistent user experience across markets — a big plus for Google’s long-term ambitions in AI and universal services.

What Can Users Do to Stay in Control?

If you want to customise your search results, you still can. Go to google.com, click Settings (bottom-right), then choose Search settings > Region Settings to set your preferred region manually.

This can be especially useful if you travel frequently or use a VPN, where your physical location may not match what you want to see.

Final Thoughts

Google retiring its country-specific domains is the end of an era — but not necessarily a dramatic change in day-to-day use. For most users, it’s business as usual.

But for marketers and businesses, it’s a cue to modernise localisation strategies. Search is no longer driven by domain suffixes — it’s driven by data, context and user intent.

The disappearance of google.co.uk from your browser may feel like a nostalgic loss, but it reflects how far the web has come — and how much smarter search has become.