Now You Can Perform Google Searches in Gmail
By Anna Johnson on May 5th, 2009Last Thursday Google announced the integration of Google search into Gmail. If you have a Gmail account, you can now perform a search without having to leave Gmail. What’s more, you can easily send emails incorporating Google search results.
To see how Google Search inside Gmail works, go into your Gmail account (if you have one) and turn the feature on from the ‘Labs’ tab under ‘Settings’. The Search box will appear on the left side of your inbox.
When you perform a search (type in a search phrase and press ‘Enter’ on your keyboard) a panel will appear on the lower right hand side of your browser which contains the first few search results. Click on a search result and another tab or window will open.
Now for the cool part… If you’ve found what you’re looking for you can go back into the Gmail tab or window and you’ll see a little green arrow at the bottom of each search result.
Click on the arrow beneath your preferred result and you’ll see a drop down list of actions you can take in relation to that search result. The drop down list may contain one or more action items, depending on what you’re doing in Gmail at the time.
For instance, if you’re reading a message, you can reply to it with the search result included in your email. If you’re composing a message, you can paste the result or URL in the email.
If you’re chatting with someone, you can send the result via chat, or if you’re just perusing your inbox, you can start a new message with the search result included.
This is probably more of a productivity tip rather than an Internet marketing tip, but hey, if Google incorporating search into Gmail helps you get things done (e.g. send search results) more easily, then it will help you in your business, right?
Source: Adam de Boor, “New in Labs: Google Search right in Gmail,” Gmail Blog, April 30, 2009
