August 22nd, 2006
Google domains, their meaning and some speculation
Gary Price from Resource Shelf noticed some new domain registration activity by Google today. The domains seem like gibberish at first, but doing some digging gives us a good understanding of what they represent.
google-afd.com/net
google-afyd.com/net
googleafd.com/net
googleafyd.com/net
Gary wonders if maybe they have something to do with the Associated Press deal we heard about a couple weeks ago — AFD stands for Agence France Press. A good guess, but I respectfully disagree.
I am almost certain this domain is referring to a service known as "AdSense for Domains". It has been around for a long time, but has gone without much attention since its launch. Is it getting ready for prime-time?
You might also remember that Google is a domain registrar — although dormant, they have the ability to provide domain registration services. I will take this one step further and speculate that we could be getting ready to see a domain management service from Google. That said, I have no proof to back up my guess other than their status as a registrar and these new domains.
Garett Rogers 
is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
Subscribe to Googling Google via Email alerts or RSS.
