As soon as we head to Google, our eyes meet the text in front of us- “Search Google or type a URL.” You might have not pondered upon it enough anytime before. But you’ll be intrigued, if you get to know that you can modify it for enhancing your search experience.
At present, Google is the preference of more than 90% of the population for performing online searches. From shopping to finding a DIY solution to most typical problems, Google recalled every now and then. This is so because Google leaves no stone unturned to be at the top of the list of people’s favorite search engines. This time too, it brought in an advancement to foster users’ search experience- Google Omnibox.
Google Omnibox API has always been there, most of us didn’t realize its presence since Google renamed it now to Omnibox. It was earlier called the search box.
What Is Google Omnibox?
Google Omnibox is an Application Program Interface (API) that assists users to run a search query while on Chrome. It is developed to provide a smooth interaction between the user and search engine for performing various searches (text-based, image-based, or video-based).
How To Get Google Omnibox?
To get Google Omnibox, you need to follow some simple steps-
- Open a new tab on your browser.
- Click/Tap on the three dots in the upper-right corner.
- Go to Settings.
- In the left-side panel, locate and hit the Search Engine option.
- You’ll see a drop-down box next to the Search Engine Address Bar option, click on it and select Google.
And done! You’ve successfully loaded Google Omnibox for your browser. Now whenever you’ll head to your default browser to perform a search, “Search Google or type a URL” will be displayed in the search box.
Advantages Of Google Omnibox
Google Omnibox API is a wonderful tool that can be used for a number of day-to-day tasks:
(1) Know The Conversions
From currency to weight, you can ask Google to convert any units.
(2) Do The Math
Google Omnibox can be used to perform calculations by simply typing in the equations.
(3) Know The Weather Report
Google can tell you the weather reports of any area.
(4) Translate A Bit
Of course, you know about Google Translate. But you can also type- translate word/phrase into language directly into the search Google or type a URL box.
(5) Begin The Countdown
Google Omnibox API can also become your countdown watch. Just type in- timer __ minutes and press the Enter Key.
(6) Play Games
If you’re getting bored, then Google has a whole stack of games for you. Type roll a dice Google or flip a coin Google into the search Google or type URL box.
(7) Ask For Directions
Google Map can guide you for on-road directions.
Difference Between Search Google Or Type A URL
Google utilizes a plethora of algorithms and equations to grasp what exactly the user is searching for. The web has two basic interrelated ways to deliver search results to users. Every piece of information is available on a site. Now to go onto those results, the user can opt for either of the two ways-
(i) Type in the search query
When you wish to perform an online search for which you don’t have any URL, you can do that by typing in your search query into the search box. Here is how to do so:
- Enable Google Omnibox for your browser (refer to the section- How To Get Google Omnibox).
- Open a new tab.
- Click on the search box right in the middle of your screen.
- Type in what you wish to search for. Let’s say we type in- “What Is ChatGPT?” You might also see autocomplete suggestions from Google (more on that later).
- Press the Enter Key.
And you’ll see a plethora of results on the search engine results page. You can click on any result and read the results.
(ii) Type a URL
When you have the URL/link of a particular search result, you can simply use it to land on the desired site or result by following some simple steps:
- Enable Google Omnibox for your browser (refer to the section- How To Get Google Omnibox).
- Open a new tab.
- A search box will appear on the top of your screen. Sometimes the cursor itself blinks in that search box. In case you can’t find that search box, click anywhere on your screen and you’ll see- Search Google Or Type A URL in that box. Click and go to that search box.
- Copy and paste the link into the search box.
- Press the Enter Key.
Now you’ll directly land on the search results/website for which you entered the link into the search box.
So you’ve learned the basic difference between search Google or type a URL. But there are also some other differences that you can notice while performing an online search using these two methods. Let’s discuss them now-
Google Autocomplete Suggestions
Google Autocomplete Suggestions will be visible to you every time you’ll type the search query into the search box. You can try it for yourself.
The suggestions for the Google Autocomplete search feature are based on-
- your recent search queries, and
- most searched queries.
Google algorithms are highly diligent in predicting potential user queries. It won’t be wrong to say that Google has a knack for gauging what potential questions regarding a topic can arise in the users’ minds. Since we’re talking about search Google or type a URL, this feature will only be useful in case of manually typing a search query into the search box.
Google Voice Search
Voice-based searches are not an alienated concept today. In the same search box where you see- search Google or type a URL, you get a mic icon. When you click on that mic (and allow the required permissions), you can ask your question/query by speaking it. Google will fetch the best results for you. This feature works on all devices- mobile, laptops, tabs, and PCs.
Search Google Or Type A URL– Which Is Better?
When it comes to picking one between ‘search Google or type a URL,’ you need to think a little about what you want to search for. Both serve their own purpose and have an important role to play in performing online searches.
For example, if you want to search- ‘what is the height of Mount Everest?’ or ‘how to pin a comment on Instagram’ you’ll simply type it into the search box. Press ‘Enter Key’ and then go through the results.
But sometimes you just wish to enter a link into the address bar and that’s it. Thorough directly pasting the copied link into the address bar, you can land on the desired page or site.
One crucial advantage of using URLs for search is that even if you’ve previously visited a URL, Google itself completes the remaining part. Also, you can paste a link like- www.qsxyi.com/mindmingles or type ‘qsxyi.com/mindmingles’ in the address bar, both will redirect you to the same site.
How To Customize Search Google Or Type A URL?
Do you spend the lion’s share of your time researching a plethora of topics on Google? Then you must customize it to have a desired search experience of your own. So for that, you can customize Google’s Homepage:
- Enable Google Omnibox for your browser (refer to the section- How To Get Google Omnibox).
- Open a new tab.
- At the bottom-right corner of the homepage, locate the Customize Chrome option. Click on it.
- A new window will pop up on your screen.
(a) Background
The very first option that you’ll get to make alterations to is Background. Click on any one theme that you like and then pick one background of your choice from the given options. Here is the list of a few alternative backgrounds available for the Google Homepage:
- Landscapes
- Textures
- Seascapes
- Geometric Shapes
- Solid Colors, etc.
If you want to set a background apart from the available options, you can use it. All you need to do this is click on the ‘Upload From Device’ option and upload the image of your choice. Click on ‘Done.’ The background will change as you hit the Done tab.
(b) Shortcuts
Shortcuts will allow you to quickly go to particular sites that you use most frequently.
- Click on Shortcuts.
- The settings will by default show the My Shortcuts option activated. Select the Most Visited Sites option to activate shortcuts for frequently used sites. You also get the option to Hide Shortcuts.
- Click on Done.
(c) Color And Theme
You can set the base of your browser for your own good experience while online surfing.
- Click on the Color And Theme option.
- Select the color you wish to set for your browser.
- Click on Done.
How Google Processes Search Queries & Search Results?
Google is a household name today and manages to answer over 3.5 billion search queries per day. Thanks to its ease of use and splendid algorithms that generate information in a blink of an eye.
Google is a search engine- a platform that is used to get information about any topic or product/service. It utilizes advanced AI mechanisms and algorithms to differentiate between the most relevant and less relevant results. This process undertakes three crucial steps-
- Crawling: The bots called crawlers/spiders check every piece of information submitted online in the context of quality and relevance.
- Indexing: In this step, Google stores the evaluated data/information in order to compare and decide its ranking later.
- Ranking: In this last step, Google allots ranks to the various results that were previously evaluated. The most relevant result will be given a positioning in the top results of the search engine results page.
As a matter of fact, Google has over 200+ algorithms for deciding which results serve the best to users’ search queries. It delivers up-to-the-minute information to users. A lot of backend work goes on continuously to update and deliver accurate results to the users.
Once a user enters a search query into the search box or Omnibox, Google’s algorithms make the run and deliver results within a fraction of a second. Also, since the range of users’ search queries is quite enormous, Google provides results in differentiated categories:
Google follows strict quality measures and evaluates content pieces to match the required benchmarks of authoritativeness, expertise, and trustworthiness. Apart from that the functionality, navigation of the website also matter in its eyes for assessing user experience.
To serve the users with the best online results, the most trusted search engine not only has furnished the Omnibox with search Google or type a URL but has also laid down spam detecting measures. Where certain spam sites use cloaking as a way to ditch search engine algorithms, others use paid links to acquire better SEO Scores. After several tests and trials, Google implemented automated and manual techniques to identify illicit practices that are done to trick search engine algorithms.
10 Search Google Or Type A URL Hacks
The below-stated Search Google or type a URL hacks will make your search experience more interesting:
1. When performing a search using a keyword or a question or a key phrase, go for typing in your query in the search box (where you see “Search Google or type a URL”).
2. If you want to open a copied link, it is always better to do so in the search box on the top. Here’s a secret- you’ll see ‘Search Google or type a URL’ in that box as well (shh…..).
3. Whenever you wish to access information about a topic from a particular website, type its link in the search box in this way: ‘site:qsxyi.com/mindmingles YouTube’ and press the ‘Enter Key.’ This will show you the results related to that particular topic and from that site only
4. Google also supports search by image. If you want to know the source of an image, discover similar images, or see the backlink profile of images, Google reverse image search is a wonderful option.
5. This trick will come in handy while designing creatives or infographics. When you need an image with a transparent background, you can put Search Google or type a URL box to use. Just type in ‘png’ with whichever image you want to search for. For instance- apple png. Press the ‘Enter Key.’ Now go to ‘Images,’ and click on ‘Tools.’ Go to ‘Colour’ and select ‘Transparent’. You’ll be shown image results with a transparent background.
6. Along with background, Search Google or type a URL box can also help you find the image of desired dimensions. All you need to do is- type the image size into the Google Omnibox. This is how you need to type in the search box- Leonardo DiCaprio imagesize:the desired image size. Press the ‘Enter Key.’ Go to images and you’ll get results as per your specifications.
7. Asterisk Wildcard (*) is another splendid feature of Google. At times when you know partly about a query or you simply forgot it, you can use this hack. Just type in what you remember, press the ‘Spacebar Key,’ and put ‘*’ sign. Lastly, press the ‘Enter Key.’ Take this for example: let’s assume we don’t know the complete book name, so we type- tools of’ *.’ Press the ‘Enter Key.’ It’ll give us the book name automatically. However, sometimes it also shows results other than expected.
8. Search Google or type a URL prototype also works in a precise format for the filetype. In simple words, you can search for information in a particular format/file type. For instance- ‘filetype pdf e-commerce industry in India.’
9. You might have come across an article or a publication that doesn’t reflects on its date of publishing. In such a scenario, you can use a very genuine trick. While on that webpage, press this shortcut key: Ctrl + U. It’ll redirect you to its source page. Now press the shortcut key: Ctrl + F and type- ‘date’ in the Find box. Click the ‘inverted v’ icon in the Find box. It’ll highlight the ‘datePublished’ and ‘dateModified’ or ‘dateUpdated’ in the source. This is how you can get that idea.
10. Has your device/mobile got misplaced or stolen? Then type in ‘find my phone/device’ in the Search Google or type a URL box. Press the ‘Enter Key.’ Now go to the very first search result or this site- for phone and for any other device. Sign in with the Gmail account logged into your lost phone/device. You can ring the phone or sign out or erase the data on the phone/device.
What Is Google Custom Search?
Google Programmable Search was introduced in 2006 with the intent to take the search experience to a whole another level. It fostered the users’ search experience especially those in the research field or web development field. Programmable Search by Google allows users to set up a customized search engine for themselves.
Users can make such moderations in the Settings that they only see search results from the selected sites. This saves time by eradicating unwanted sources and delivering filtered results. The best part? It supports the same features as Google’s uncustomized search engine does. You can also connect your Google AdSense and Google Analytics Account with it. So if you want to create a search engine with your own preferences, visit this link.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
#1. What Is Search Google Or Type A URL?
Search Google Or Type A URL is the feature of Google Omnibox that allows users to perform online searches via two methods-
- Either by copying and pasting a link in the address bar at the top
- By simply entering the search query into the search box.
#2. What Does URL Stand For?
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. An URL is a web address that redirects the users to a designated site or file destination.
#3. How Should I Type The URL In Google Search Box?
There are multiple ways to type a URL in the Google search box-
Directly With Website Name and ‘.com’- qsxyi.com/mindmingles
With ‘www’ and ‘.com’- www.qsxyi.com/mindmingles
With ‘https://’- https://qsxyi.com/mindmingles/
Note: Not all sites necessarily use ‘.com.’ Some use-
- .gov
- .in
- .edu
- .org
- .eu
#4. What Is Google Autocomplete?
Google Autocomplete is a feature of Google that anticipates in advance what a user might be willing to find an answer for. You must have noticed whenever you type something in the search box, you see a number of relevant suggestions. It saves time and eases the process of surfing.
#5. Which Is More Better- Search Google or Type A URL?
If you know the keywords or key phrases (words that you enter into the search box), use the Google search box. Alternatively, you can choose to get redirected to a webpage if you’ve its URL.
Gurleen Kaur is a Content Writer at Mind Mingles. She has presented her work in International Conference On Guru Nanak Dev Ji: Life, Philosophy and Legacy held at Mata Sundri College For Women and was awarded by the title of “Best Paper Presenter” under College Student Category for the same (Dated: 27th and 28th September, 2019) Has a strong grip over creating interesting, unique and informative content pieces for a wide range of niches. Firm believer that words have an impact.
