5 free Chrome extensions to take your searches to the next level
July 29, 2024
5 free Chrome extensions to take your searches to the next level
Your search for better searching is over. Here’s how to easily search beyond Google, search the entire site, preview search results, and more.
BY Doug Aamoth
There’s a fine line between searching and searching well. And if you’re tired of sifting through countless search results to find exactly what you need, look no further.
These powerful, free Chrome extensions will revolutionize your search experience, helping you filter, organize, and discover information more efficiently than ever before.
Search All
Why limit your searches to Google? With just a click, the Search All extension lets you broaden your query to Amazon, Bing, Wikipedia, Yahoo, eBay, X, and YouTube.
You can choose to search them all at once by clicking the extension’s icon or search one of them by right-clicking your term and choosing your preferred engine from the context menu. You can add your own custom search engines as well.
Search the Current Site
Don’t be fooled: Search the Current Site isn’t just a glorified Ctrl-F extension. This one actually searches all the pages in the site you’re on for the term you’re looking for.
You can choose to leverage Google, Yahoo, Bing, or Yandex to perform your searches—with Google selected as the default engine unless you change it in the options menu.
Search Result Previews
Add a bit of visual flair to your search results with the handy Search Result Previews extension.
Just like the name implies, this tool adds a thumbnail of the site next to each search result so you can get an idea of what to expect should you click through.
Previews can be added to Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, and other engines so you’ve got plenty of options.
Search YouTube
Lightweight and simple yet useful just the same, Search YouTube lets you search for terms inside the world’s most popular video repository.
Just highlight a word or phrase, right-click, and you’ll notice a “Search YouTube for . . .” option in the context menu that pops up. Select it, and you’re on your way.
Search All Tabs
Far be it from me to tell you how to live your life, but you people who manage to leave hundreds of tabs open in your browsers give me bouts of anxiety that no therapist could ever help me overcome.
At any rate, you need professional help: the Search All Tabs extension. It’s perfect for those times you need to find something that you’re sure is hidden somewhere inside the jungle of open web pages you’ve got putting your poor RAM into a deathly choke hold.
This extension has a ton of helpful options, including which search engines to use and how you’d like to carry out the scope of your search: by page title, by page content, or both.
Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, click it, and it’ll directly activate the tab in question for quick access.
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