Important lessons learnt from Google, Alphabet and abc.xyz

Google is now part of Alphabet

By now, the whole world has heard about Google – and their new place in a larger parent company known as Alphabet. You read the news in places like Mashable, Wired and heaps of other websites written by smart and well-informed people. Many of us have been scratching our heads in confusion and surprise at the unexpected announcement, while trying to find out what this separation of interests from Google’s core business means for the new parent company as a whole.

The simple answer is that the obvious things that we know as Google – things like the search engine, and the Android operating system – will technically be a separate company from stuff like Boston Dynamics, and the various crazy projects the tech giant is working on, while still being “owned” by Alphabet. There’s good corporate reasons for doing this, that you can read in more in depth on business websites.

ABC.XYZ

What hasn’t been making the top headline news is the catchy web address for Alphabet: abc.XYZ.

Google are no strangers to using top-level domains, having pranked the world on April 1st this year with their backwards search engine com.google, that made use of their own .GOOGLE web domain. But this is even clearer. With one stroke of the pen – or click of a mouse – with Alphabet, the company have again put new domain names in the public eye. Want to know if new domains are going to catch on, if there is any relevance to your business or any advantage over the .com? Alphabet have answered all of these questions and more with just three letters and one web domain.

What’s the advantage of a not-com domain name? How about the opportunity for a unique and memorable address. Google have been internet pioneers for decades, now Alphabet are showing the world that a unique company deserves a unique web address.

Can’t get the .com address for your business? Think outside the box. Rather than make their web address long or complicated, just to get a .com ending, Alphabet found another option with .xyz.

With the likes of .tech and .site also now available for registration, be like Alphabet and get your business ahead of the curve with an .xyz of your own from $1.99USD at crazydomains.xyz. You don’t even need to give up your old web domain if you’re very attached to it — ask one of our friendly team about how you can redirect your URL.

ABC WTF?

The story doesn’t end there: because the global search superstar is already teaching us lessons about brand protection. Within minutes of the Alphabet news breaking, it was pointed out that the address abc.WTF doesn’t go to Alphabet – instead it redirects to Bing, Microsoft’s rival search product. While it’s not likely to have been a deliberate move by Microsoft, the takeaway lesson remains the same.

If your business has a com.au web address, what’s to stop a competitor from registering the .net.au equivalent and redirecting to their own site? Taylor Swift made the news earlier this year by doing the smart thing and taking reputation management into her own hands and registering TaylorSwift.PORN and .ADULT.

There’s often options and avenues open to you if someone is impersonating or defaming you online – but why take that risk? While the door to getting a clever new domain for trolling or parodying Alphabet is likely to have been firmly closed now (there’s rules against trading on someone else’s good name), you might not have the weight or profile of the Googles of this world. It’s better to be proactive and protect your brand.

What happens next?

Questions about if Alphabet will be paying the appropriate taxes and if Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto will apply to Alphabet as a whole are being asked, and clear answers will probably be as elusive as they were yesterday when they were asked about Google. But, for most of us, the creation of Alphabet won’t affect our lives.

Google search and YouTube and Android will all continue to function for the end user in exactly the same way, development on self-driving cars and Google Fiber will likely advance without needing to be part of the company that is still called “Google”, and how Alphabet reports its earnings and profits will make little difference in our day-to-day lives.

Just the same, Google (or Alphabet) has reinforced some important lessons about protecting your brand online, while also telling the world that they see the value in the new generic domain names.