How to add custom search tools to your browser

I thought I would offer up a little something different today; a work hack. With the myriad of tools across multiple websites that we use these days, it can be time consuming to get to what you are looking for. Often, you need to quickly get to that ServiceNow ticket, find something in application help, or find a particular product. For me, minutes count, especially in a meeting, so I started created custom search tools in Google Chrome. Its Omnibox, the combined address bar and search box, is a powerful tool for quickly accessing websites and performing searches. While it primarily uses Google Search as the default search engine, Chrome allows you to customize your Omnibox to include custom searches. This feature can significantly enhance your browsing experience by saving time and making searches more convenient. In this blog post, we'll guide you through the process of adding custom searches to Google Chrome's Omnibox, giving you the ability to search specific websites or perform other tasks with just a few keystrokes. The process in Microsoft Edge is very similar, but Firefox is a bit more complicated, so I've included a few notes at the end to help there.

Understanding Custom Searches

Before we dive into the steps to add custom searches to Google Chrome, let's first understand what custom searches are and why they can be so useful.

Custom searches, also known as custom search engines, are a way to instruct the browser to use a specific search engine or website when you enter a particular keyword in the Omnibox. This can be incredibly helpful for various tasks, such as searching for products on e-commerce websites, quickly looking up articles on your favorite news site, or even searching within a specific subreddit on Reddit. From a technical perspective, you are just telling the browser the construction of a search query then all you have to do is fill in the search terms.

The primary benefit of custom searches is efficiency. Instead of navigating to a website and then searching within it, you can simply type a keyword followed by your query directly into the Omnibox, saving time and effort.

Adding Custom Searches to Google Chrome

Now, let's get into the nitty-gritty of how to add custom searches to your Chrome browser's Omnibox. Follow these steps to set up your custom searches:

1. Open Google Chrome: Start by launching your Google Chrome browser. Make sure you are using the latest version for the best experience. Remember that similar steps can be taken in the new Microsoft Edge browser.

2. Access the Chrome Settings: Click on the three dots (the hamburger menu) located in the top-right corner of the browser window to open the menu. Then, go to "Settings."

3. Manage Search Engines: In the Settings tab, click on "Search engine" section and click on "Manage search engines." These menu paths might change slightly with each browser version.

4. Add a New Search Engine: Under the "Search engines" section, you'll see a list of search engines that Chrome currently recognizes. Most of what we will want to do is add items to the Site Search section since this is where add specific websites to search. To the right of the work "Site search," you should see the Add button.

5. Configure the Custom Search Engine: When you click "Add," a pop-up window will appear, asking for the following information:

• Search engine: Enter a name for your custom search engine. This is really just used for display and settings update purposes.
• Shortcut: Provide a keyword that you want to use to activate the custom search. This is what you'll type in the Omnibox before your query. Make this something short and easy to remember.
• URL with %s in place of query: Here, you need to enter the search URL of the website or service you want to use. You should replace the search query part with "%s" (without quotes), which Chrome will automatically replace with your actual search query. I'll share a few thoughts on how to get this value later.

6. Save the Custom Search Engine: After you've entered all the required information, click the "Add" button to save your custom search engine.

7. Set as Default (Optional): If you want to make your custom search engine the default option when you type a keyword without specifying a search engine, you can click the three dots next to your newly added search engine and select "Make default."

Using Your Custom Searches

Now that you've successfully added a custom search engine to Chrome, it's time to put it to good use. Here's how you can utilize your custom searches:

1. Open a New Tab: Start by opening a new tab or clicking on the Omnibox.

2. Type Your Keyword: Begin by typing the keyword you assigned to your custom search engine, followed by a space. Tab can also work. To change this, go back to the top of the Manage Search Engines settings.

3. Enter Your Query: After entering the keyword, type your search query, and press "Enter."

Google Chrome will recognize the keyword and perform a search using the custom search engine you configured, directly from the Omnibox.

Examples of Custom Searches

To give you a better understanding of how custom searches work and how you can make the most of them, here are some examples of popular custom searches:

1. Wikipedia: 

• Search engine: Wikipedia
• Keyword: wiki
• URL with %s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s

2. YouTube:

• Search engine: YouTube
• Keyword: yt
• URL with %s: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s

3. Amazon:

• Search engine: Amazon
• Keyword: amz
• URL with %s: https://www.amazon.com/s?field-keywords=%s

4. IMDb:

• Search engine: IMDb
• Keyword: imdb
• URL with %s: https://www.imdb.com/find?q=%s

5. SAP Support:

• Search engine: SAP Support
• Keyword: sapsupport
• URL with %s: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/solutions/notesv2/?q=%s

4. ServiceNow General Search (NEEDS TO BE CUSTOMIZED):

• Search engine: ServiceNow
• Keyword: snow
• URL with %s: https://<YOURCOMPANYID>.service-now.com/nav_to.do?uri=%2F$sn_global_search_results.do%3Fsysparm_search%3D%s

4. Microsoft Azure DevOps (NEEDS TO BE CUSTOMIZED):

• Search engine: Azure DevOps
• Keyword: ado
• URL with %s: https://dev.azure.com/<YOURORGANIZATION>/<YOURPROJECT>/_search?text=%s

How to find your search URL

I don't believe there is any easy answer to this because every application is different. My approach, which works most of the time involves a little bit of trial and error, but get's me what I'm looking for most of the time. I suggest that you go the website that you want to add and execute a search using a single distinct word. Once the search results appear, copy the full URL from the Omnibox and paste it in Notepad or some other text editing app. You should see your distinct word in the URL and you will replace this with the %s in order for Chrome to replace that with the your future search term. Create your custom site search and give it a try!

While that should work, you may have extra parameters in your search query. Keep your starting URL in Notepad as your reference and make copies for each adjustment you make until it is exactly what you are looking for.

Good luck and if you have other examples, leave them in the comments and I'll add them above!

Firefox Instructions

Note: These may be slightly out of date, but they did work for me in the past.

1. Install “Add custom search engine” extension.

2. Click the extension icon to start the process of adding.

3. Use one of the example URLs above.

4. When complete, click the Add search engine button.

5. Follow the steps to add it to the search bar. (this includes clicking the address bar and selecting

the Add to search bar button).

6. To use, start typing the name of your added search then select the option from the drop-down

to pick the new search engine.