Google Buys “g.co” Domain to Shorten URLs
Domains, top-level domains, URLs and similar terms that, to the uninitiated, are often as dismissed or misunderstood as Greek mathematical symbols (∑ anyone?). But Google has made a step forward that has been catching on among internet companies as a means to shorten domain names and maintain their trademark. 
The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is the organization that manages, briefly, web site names. The system is called Domain Name Service, and it creates a tree system, which looks similar to computer file systems used by most computer users. At the top of the DNS hierarchy of names are three groups, collectively known as Top Level Domains, or TLD, according to the ICANN site.
TLDs come in three flavors, one is for infrastructure and not often, if ever, used by the public (.arpa), one is a general TLD, most commonly used by the public (.com, .org, etc) and then there are the country code TLDs. The last group is where an assigned two letter code has been assigned to each country where each nation controls their own TLD group. Anything that ends in the URL “.co” is a site associated with Columbia, in South America.
So how does Google fit in with Columbia?
Columbia started sold its URL rights to a company called .CO Internet S.A.S., a speculation venture. This allowed other companies outside of Columbia to buy domain names, with relative ease, and shorten domain names in the process. Rather than typing “www.google.com” into an address line, the new domain name allows Google to use “g.co.” According to a blog post on Google’s official blog, this domain will only be used as a link to Google products and services.
Other companies are already using this process. If you happen to have a blog, look at the “Traffic Source” area. If you “t.co” that would be a link from Twitter.com. According to an article in eweek.com, other sites also using the shortened URLs are Amazon.com and Overstock.com, among others.
Additionally, users wanting to create a shortened URL of their own can go to goo.gl and create a shortened version of the web address of their choice. Just copy and paste.
Follow Technorati