Newsletter 
Summary: Google is changing the URL for Google Search, and will begin redirecting all users worldwide to a single, unified domain. Google assures users this won’t change the way that Search works and that people will still get localized results from their searches.
Google Search, the place most people go to search for information, is getting a new worldwide URL that will unify the webpage address on a grand, global scale. No more google.co.jp for Google Search users in Japan, and no more google.de for Google Search users in Germany. Just a singular, unified URL for all users everywhere.
Google says the reason it used country-coded top-level domains was that this is how it provided local results to people who were searching for information in their specific country. So if you were here in the US searching google.com for the best pizza places near you, you would get relevant results that were different from a user searching for that same exact information in a country halfway around the world. The same goes for if you’re gathering details from Google Search’s new AI Mode.
However, that sort of thing is really no longer needed. Google has improved the way it serves up localized results from search queries. Thus, country-coded top-level domains aren’t needed anymore.
The worldwide Google Search URL is already making the rounds
The URL, which will just be the google.com domain that people in the US are familiar with, is already starting to make the rounds with users globally. Google says in its official blog post about this change that it’s already beginning to redirect users to this URL. Though it doesn’t give an end date to the whole thing.
The company merely says that this will happen gradually over the coming months. “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,” Google said.
Some users may need to re-enter preferences
Google stresses that this will largely leave the user experience unchanged. However, it does state that some users “may” need to re-enter some information. Specifically, search preferences. Google notes that some users may be prompted to re-enter search preferences as part of this process.
So, this suggests that not everyone will run into this. It is possible, however, that these prompts will pop up. If they do, simply follow the prompts, and everything should iron out right after. Google also confirms that this won’t affect the way that Search works. So overall, the experience of using Google will work as it always has. The URL will just be different now. That means you can still expect to get the localized results.