Save a step when you’re searching with Firefox

We live in an amazing time. When all the knowledge in the world is at our fingertips. Where having an edge doesn’t come from being able to remember information, but instead from how quickly you can get to it. It’s part of why Google.com is one of the highest trafficked webpages in existence.

What is a browser?

Quick and savvy web users know that you don’t have to take that extra time of jumping to Google to find what you’re looking for. In fact there are multiple ways you can get to search from within Firefox.

For starters, there’s the URL bar. It’s that part of your browser where you see the address of the site you’re on (for example, URL of this blog is https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox). The URL bar does a whole lot more than just tell you information about the page you’re on. You can also use it to search! Just delete the text that’s there, put in your search information, press enter and you’ll get your Google search results. If you’ve changed your default search engine to another search provider, you’ll get the results from your chosen default search engine.

You can also get directly to search in the Firefox new tab page. The new tab page is full of delights and it has a couple of easy ways for you to find what you’re looking for. Right at the top of the page is your very own search bar. Firefox comes with Google as default, but you can change that if another search engine helps you. You do you.

You can also select a different search engine while you’re searching without changing your default. Just start typing your query and then click on a search icon below:


The search options don’t stop there. You can also use the Top Sites section to get to search. Click on the Google or Amazon icons in your Top Sites section and Firefox creates a shortcut to your URL bar with the search engine already selected for you. You simply type in what you’re searching for and press enter. Et violà! Results. Hold onto this trick next time you need to do some shopping, fast. These search options come pinned in your Top Sites, but if at any time you want to dismiss them, click on the dots icon and select “unpin.”

If you’d like to mix up your options in your top sites Firefox lets you pin search for Google, Bing, Amazon, DuckDuckGo, eBay, Twitter and Wikipedia.  Just click on the three dots on the right side of your Top Sites section and select “Add search engine.”

Now you’re ready to get all the answers and get to them even faster.

This post is also available in: Deutsch (German)


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