The “I’m Feeling Lucky” option feels like a throwback to more innocent times – a time before Google became a corporate monolith with a wide menacing smile that feeds relentlessly on our online data. The feature lets you enter a search query, then click “I’m Feeling Lucky” to take you directly to a well-rated site ranking for your search instead of showing you a list of search results.
While the Feeling Lucky box is one of the few remnants from the early days of Google still with us, it’d be nice if Google thought to integrate it into the address bar (much like it’s integrated the regular search). But if Google won’t do it, then at least you can do it yourself with this guide.
In order to add “I’m Feeling Lucky” to the omnibox, you’ll essentially need to create a search engine for i, so that when you type your search term into the Omnibox, you’ll get to do an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search instead of a regular search.
To do this, open Chrome, click the three-dot menu icon at the top-right corner, then Settings.
Click “Search engine -> Manage search engines -> Add.”
In the pop-out, enter the following into the three boxes:
Search engine: I’m Feeling Lucky
Keyword: ifl (though this can be anything you want – just keep it clear and short).
URL with %s in place of query: http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=%s
When you’ve entered all the information, click Add.
With the “I’m Feeling Lucky” search engine now in your list of search engines, you can access it by entering its keyword (ifl or whatever you chose as the keyword) into the omnibox/address bar followed by the space bar.
The search will turn into an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search based on the search engine you created earlier. Enter your search query, and you’ll be taken straight to a well-ranked site chosen by Google for that query.
I’m Feeling Lucky Extensions
If there’s a way of doing things without using third-party apps and extensions, then I’ll always choose to do that even if it may take a little more time. But if time is at a premium for you, then you can just try one of the several Chrome extensions that basically do the same job.
There’s this extension, which allows you to enter \ into the address bar followed by space. Whichever method you choose, it all achieves the same goal in much the same way.
So now that you’ve established yourself as a high-rolling search engine gambler, you probably want to keep tweaking Chrome to get the most out of it. If that’s the case, then read our list of the best Chrome flags you can enable. Also check out our guide on how to find and replace text in Chrome and Firefox.
Image credit: Im Feeling Lucky placard by DepositPhotos
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Robert Zak
Tech writer at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.
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