Google’s New Domain Structure: What’s Next For Hreflang?

Google is making a big change to its domain structure. Soon, all country-specific Google domains will redirect to Google.com.

This change ties into earlier hints that Google may rely less on hreflang markup, showing how Google is changing its approach to international search.

Google Consolidates Domain Structure

Google announced plans to phase out country-specific domains like google.fr (France), google.ca (Canada), and google.co.jp (Japan). All these will eventually redirect to Google.com.

Google says in its announcement:

“Over the years, our ability to provide a local experience has improved. In 2017, we began providing the same experience with local results for everyone using Search, whether they were using google.com or their country’s ccTLD.”

Google explained that country-level domains are no longer needed because they can now deliver locally relevant results no matter which domain you use.

Implementation Timeline

Google will roll out this change slowly over the coming months, giving users time to adjust to the new system.

While the URL in your browser will change, Google says search will still work the same way.

Google stressed that the update “won’t affect the way Search works, nor will it change how we handle obligations under national laws.”

Connection to Hreflang Evolution

This domain change seems to be part of a bigger shift in how Google handles international content.

In July, Google’s Gary Illyes hinted that they might rely less on manual hreflang tags and more on automatic language detection.

Illyes stated in a podcast:

“Ultimately, I would want less and less annotations, site annotations, and more automatically learned things.”

SEO professional Montse Cano pointed out this connection in a social media post, noting that “hreflang might actually change too due to improvements in AI.”

While no changes are confirmed, it’s something to watch for in the future.

Implications For SEO Professionals

This change affects search marketers in several ways, especially those working on international SEO:

• Your analytics will show different referral patterns as traffic moves from country-specific domains to Google.com.
• Along with less reliance on hreflang, website managers may have fewer technical tasks for international targeting.
• Google seems more confident in automatically detecting the right content versions for users.
• Users should get a more uniform experience across regions while still seeing localized results.

Next Steps

While Google is getting better at automatic detection, SEO pros should still:

• Keep using hreflang tags until Google officially says otherwise
• Make sure your site clearly signals language and regional targeting
• Watch your analytics for traffic pattern changes during the transition
• Think about how this affects SEO strategies that relied on country-specific domains

Key Takeaway

This change shows Google is more confident in understanding context, language, and user intent without needing explicit signals like separate domains.

Combined with discussions about automatic language detection, Google’s AI seems ready to handle work that once required manual setup.

SEO professionals should see this as part of search technology’s natural evolution. Stay alert to how these changes affect your international search visibility and traffic.

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