The Big Google Search Tools Collection

There are so many Google search tools, Google services, extensions, and toolbars. Google indexes and searches billions of web pages and is the premier search engine on the internet. A quick analysis of the search page is helpful to understand and analyze the search results. Learn the how to do Google Search and remember to set your preferences.

Note: The tools which are not linked below are mostly discontinued and listed here for archival purposes. 

Official Google Search Tools

google trends

  • Google – The Search Engine.
  • Google Advanced Search – search google based on specific parameters
  • Google Suggest – As you type into the search box, Google Suggest guesses what you’re typing and offers suggestions in real-time. Now, this has been incorporated into the Google search Omnibox.
  • Google Trends – Graphically see and compare what the world is searching for.
  • Google My Activity – Keeps a record of all searches and clicked results while a user is logged into a Google Account. You can change the setting for better privacy and security.
  • Google Blog Search – Google search technology focused on blogs
  • Blogger Blog Search – Search for blogs all over the web
  • Google Directory – Search the web organized by topic into categories.
  • Google Alerts – sends emails automatically when there are new Google results for your search terms.

Special Searches

Google Search

  • Google Video – Search TV programs and videos
  • Google Image Search – comprehensive image search on the web
  • Google Music Search – Search for music
  • Google Book Search – Search the full text of books (and discover new ones).
  • Google Catalogs – helps you browse and search merchant-provided catalogs
  • Froogle – Google’s shopping search engine. Now called Google shopping.
  • Google News – Search and browse 4,500 news sources
  • Google News archive search – provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives.
  • Google Scholar – search for the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.
  • Google Patent Search – find the full text of the U.S. patent corpus and find patents that interest you.
  • Google Maps – View maps, get driving directions, and search for local businesses and services.
  • Google Public Service Search – offers educational institutions and non-profit organizations worldwide free SiteSearch, which enables users to search your website, and free WebSearch, which enables users to search the Internet.
  • Google’s University Search – enables you to narrow your search to a specific school website for things like admissions information, course schedules, or alumni news.
  • Google Base – submit all types of online and offline content that is hosted and made searchable online.

Google Topic Specific Search

  • Google’s Special Searches – enable you to narrow your search to a specific topic.
  • Google Apple/Macintosh Search – Search for Apple/Macintosh-related sites using Google
  • Google Microsoft Search – Search Microsoft-related sites using Google
  • Google Linux Search – Search all penguin-friendly pages
  • Google U.S. Government Search – Search all .gov and .mil sites
  • BSD Unix – Search web pages about the BSD operating system

Google For Webmasters

  • Google AdSense for search – Opportunity to earn money by Google whenever your users click on the targeted Google AdSense ads on search results pages.
  • Google Free – provide Google search results to users who want to search the web or just your website.
  • Google Custom Search Engine – Specify the websites that you want to be searched and integrate the search box and results into your own website. Previously also called Site-flavored Google search that delivered web search results that are customized to individual websites.
  • Customizable Google Search – you can customize your results display to include the background, text, and link colors you select.
  • Google Enterprise Search Appliance – is a hardware and software product designed to offer large businesses the productivity-enhancing power of Google search.
  • Google Mini – Google search for your website and intranet

Google Desktop Search Tools

  • Google Desktop – a desktop search application that provides full-text search over your email, files, music, photos, chats, Gmail, and web pages that you’ve viewed. Discontinued.

Google Mobile Search Services

  • Google SMS – Send a text message with your search query, and receive a text message with search results
  • Google SMS UK – enables you to send queries as text messages from your mobile phone or device and easily get precise answers to your questions.

Google Search Toolbars

google toolbar

  • Google Toolbar – Add a search box to your browser
  • Google Toolbar Beta – Test the latest version on IE.
  • Google Toolbar for Firefox – Add a search box to your browser. Discontinued.
  • Google Toolbar for Enterprise – provides powerful productivity features including easy access to Google, customized search buttons, instant search suggestions, and a pop-up blocker.
  • Google Browser Buttons – add to a personal toolbar giving you access to Google search technology without taking up extra screen space. Discontinued

Third Party Google Search Tools

Search Google with Firefox Extensions

  • CustomizeGoogle – enhances Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam).
  • Googlebar Lite – A lightweight Google search toolbar for Firefox.
  • GoogleTabs – Adds a context menu option to open Google search results in tabs.
  • Advanced Dork – Highlight a word or phrase, right-click, and choose from over 15 Advanced Google Operators, A google search page is opened in either the same tab or a new tab, the results contained in the search will contain the highlighted text inside the chosen Operator.
  • GooglePreview – Inserts preview images (thumbnails) of websites and Amazon products into the Google and Yahoo search results pages.
  • Feeling Lucky – Performs Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” search with any selected text and opens the result in new a tab.
  • Aggregate Yahoo! and Google – Search Yahoo and Google simultaneously
  • GooglebarL10N – is the localized version of Google bar with Menus & Texts in German, Italian or Spanish.
  • Google Advanced Operations Toolbar – provides a shortcut to some of Google’s advanced search functions.

Google Page Modules / Scripts / Widgets / Bookmarklets

  • Search History – View your search history. Google Personal Module.
  • Random Site Image – Displays a random image from a given website (via Google Images site search). Google Personal Module.
  • Google Search Yahoo Widgets – collection of Google search widgets in various formats
  • Milly’s Bookmarklets – Bookmarklets that use the Google search engine to search for stuff.

Multi Search Tools

  • Simply Google – search all Google services on one page. Lots of forms.
  • HotDaddy – search all Google services on one page. Lots of icons.
  • Google Total – search all Google services on one page. Drop down menu.
  • GahooYoogle – search multiple Google and Yahoo services together side by side.
  • Twingine – Google and Yahoo search side by side.
  • Soople – performs all advanced search functions of google in separate forms

Miscellaneous Google Search Tools

  • Google Cloud – displays search results as a tag cloud
  • Google Current – airs every half hour on Current TV and provides a look at what the world is searching for on Google.
  • Googlewhack – a query consisting of two words (without quotation marks) entered into Google’s search page that returns a single result.
  • Google Fight – Compare the number of results for two competing keywords.
  • GoogleDuel – a popularity contest using the Google search engine.
  • Random Web Search – it generates a random word, then searches that word on the web using Google.
  • Googlematic – Enables searching of Google via AIM or MSN Messenger.
  • Google Tool – Search multiple google data centers simultaneously.
  • elgooG – a mirror image of Google
  • LostGoggles – adds search site preview images, Amazon pricing, site info links and the Open-in-New-Window button. Formerly “More Google”.

In the end, this amazing list of Google Web Search Features lists the many special features to help you to find exactly what you’re looking for. Google Zeitgeist lists the current Google Search patterns, trends, and surprises.

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About the Author: P Chandra is editor of QOT, one of India's earliest tech bloggers since 2004. A tech enthusiast with expertise in coding, WordPress, web tools, SEO and DIY hacks.