Like many folks in the Internet age, I spend a huge chunk of my time searching for information on Google. Over the years I’ve learned lots of little tricks to help make those searches faster and more effective. But if turning to advanced queries alone isn’t powerful enough for you, a handful of Google-made Chrome extensions can supercharge your scouring even more.
Google Dictionary
Find defintions for words without leaving the web page with the Google Dictionary extension.
I use Google’s “define [word]” search shortcut all the time to get quick definitions of words right at the top of Google search results. That’s handy, but it takes extra time and significantly disrupts my attention since I have to open a new tab and leave the site I’m viewing to do this.
Enter Google’s Dictionary extension for Chrome.
With this extension installed, all you have to do is double-click a word on a webpage to see a pop-up definition of the term, no new tab required. Yes, it’s that easy, and super seamless.
Highlight to search
Forget about copy-and-paste, just highlight and click.
Have you ever been reading a story about Game of Thrones and wondered “Who the heck is Prince Oberyn again?” Google’s Highlight to Search extension to the rescue!
Forget about using copy and paste or typing the name out manually in the search box. Highlight to Search does exactly what its name suggests: Highlight a search term and a small magnifying glass appears underneath. Click that icon and you’ll get a number of auto-suggested search terms. Just pick the one you want and a new tab opens with your search query. Sure, it’s a small thing, but it can cumulatively save you a ton of time over the course of a day.
Google Quick Scroll
Quick Scroll helps you find relevant information on a web page faster.
This extension is kind of an automated version of the ‘ctrl+F’ search function baked into most browsers.
Sometimes when you’re searching, the information you’re looking for is buried on a web page. Let’s say you are searching for information about “Belgian waffles served by street vendors,” but the Web page you visit via your Google search only mentions this information towards the bottom of the page.
The Quick Scroll extension searches the page for you and then delivers a pop-up box in the lower right corner when it finds the relevant section. Click on the box and you’ll jump straight to the information you’re looking for, no matter where that information is on the page. Quick Scroll only appears when it determines the information you’re looking for is a small part of a larger topic on a webpage.
You might already have a black belt in Google-Fu, but with these three extensions you’ll up your game and save some time in the process.