Marie C. Cassandra

In this series, I take a look at Google Products I use nearly every day. Previously, I’ve posted about Knowledge Graph and Business Photos.

Feature #3: Tab to Search

Chrome is my default browser because I love doing Google searches straight from the address bar, but did you know you can search a site directly in the address bar too? I sure didn’t.

I was recently introduced to this nifty Chrome feature using YouTube and Amazon as examples. My thoughts went immediately to Pronto. I have to ask our front-end engineers to get this to work with our site too!

To my amazement, when I tested to see if it would work on Pronto, it did. Don’t you love it when that happens? Google uses OpenSearch Description Documents to figure out how to search the target site. Since OpenSearch is a commonly used technology, this feature is instantly compatible with a lot of the sites that people are already searching.

How to use:

1. Type the website name in the address bar.
2. Hit ‘Tab’.
3. Type your search term.
4. Hit ‘Enter’
5. Voila!

By the magic of Google, you instantly land on your destination page pre-searched! Think of how many seconds you have now shaved off many of the sites you use and search regularly. It will definitely add up.

Apparently, this feature has been around since 2008. Am I the only one that didn’t know about this skip-the-homepage-middleman feature?