Google Search’s usefulness in present day society cannot be underestimated, with over three billion searches carried out across the globe ever day.
But there is more to Google than just plain search. These are some of its lesser-known functions.
Here are 10 cool Google Search hacks
1. Set a timer
Just put a dish in the oven or need to time yourself for a work/school-related task? Just type into the Google search bar ‘set timer for 10 minutes, hours or seconds’ and Google will beep when the time is up.
2. Internet speed search
Testing internet connection bandwidth and latency is as easy as typing ‘internet speed test’ into the Google search engine bar and Google will generate both upload and download speeds.
3. Flight status
If you have a flight coming up and need to check up more info, all you need to do is type the flight number like we did for a UA 8328 ‘trip from Los Angeles to Toronto.
4. Find a super old newspaper
History-mongers will appreciate articles from over 100 newspapers dating as far back as the 19th century on Google News’ ample archives (news.google.com/newspapers).
5. Currency conversion
Currency conversions are much more straight forward by simply inputting the amount and currency followed by the currency you’d like to convert to, for example ’10 rands to pula’.
6. Weather forecast
Google search can generate weather forecasts for up to eight days by just typing in ‘weather’ followed by the location.
7. Sports schedules
To check fixtures for any sports team like we did for football club Orlando Pirates, all you need to do is type in the name and next game: ‘Orlando Pirates next game’
8. Quick dictionary
If ever you need to quickly check the definition of a word, it’s as easy as typing ‘define’ followed by the particular word into Google Search. Search results can get as comprehensive as also providing word origins and pronunciation.
9. Google trends
Google trends (trends.google.co.za) is similar to Twitter trends but based on what South Africans are searching for on Google.
10. Find similar websites
If you like a website’s content and would like to visit similar sites to it like we did for Buzzfeed, all you do is type in ‘related sites: Buzzfeed‘ and Google will do all the digging for you.
