How to Perform a Quick Website Search in Safari

[MacRumors]

There are several ways to search the web in Apple's Safari browser. In this article, we're going to highlight a way of searching specific websites using a lesser-known Safari feature called Quick Website Search. The option is designed to work with sites that have a built-in search field, like the one you can find at the top of the main page at MacRumors.com. Here's how it works.

Let's say you want to look up articles on MacRumors that mention device benchmarks. You might do this by typing "macrumors benchmarks" into Safari's address bar to get results from whichever search engine the browser is configured to use. If you're a bit more search savvy, you might even type "site: macrumors.com benchmarks" to limit the search to MacRumors. But ideally you'd just navigate to MacRumors.com and use the search field provided at the top of the page.

If you take the latter option and Quick Website Search is enabled, Safari will remember that you've used the MacRumors search field and offer to use it again in future searches that include the website's name. For example, if you typed "macrumors" followed by "deals" directly into Safari's address bar, you could tap the option Search macrumors.com for "deals" in the suggestions box, as shown above, and you'd get instant results from MacRumors' own on-site search function.

How to Enable Quick Website Search in iOS

The functionality of Quick Website Search depends on how a given site implements its search field, but we've found that it works with most popular websites that offer them, so it's worth making sure you have the feature enabled. To do this on iPhone and iPad, launch the Settings app, tap Safari -> Quick Website Search and slide the Quick Website Search toggle to the green ON position.

Notice on this screen that you can also tap Edit to remove websites from the list of shortcuts that Safari automatically adds to whenever you use a site-specific search field.

How to Enable Quick Website Search on Mac

The feature works the same way in Safari for macOS. To see if it's enabled, select Safari -> Preferences... from the menu bar, choose the Search tab, and make sure the checkbox is ticked next to Enable Quick Website Search.

Lastly, if you click the Manage Websites... button next to the checkbox, you can view Safari's list of website shortcuts, remove individual websites, or clear the list completely.

Article Link: How to Perform a Quick Website Search in Safari

 

[macduke]

I love that Apple is doing everything they can to cut Google out of the search equation.

 

[the_color_orange]

Great tip! Subtle features that are often overlooked.

 

[69Mustang]

I love that Apple is doing everything they can to cut Google out of the search equation.

Hmmm... Everything?

 

[jmh600cbr]

List of sites that have this? Didn’t know it existed until now

 

[iMerik]

List of sites that have this? Didn’t know it existed until now

I think it will often work for any website that has a well-designed search function, so I think the "list" would be large. If you see in the Safari settings, it says, "Quick website search shortcuts are added automatically by searching within a website."

 

[linkmaster02]

List of sites that have this? Didn’t know it existed until now

Hold on, give me a few years to try out all 1.8 billion websites and I'll put a list together for you.

 

[loveandhavefun]

I love that Apple is doing everything they can to cut Google out of the search equation.

Billions of dollars are paid by Google to have their search default on Apple devices but apple don't mind that.

I honestly think the heads of both companies secretly work together to give the illusion of choice to consumers and limit competition.

 

[macduke]

Hmmm... Everything?

Well, aside from launching their own search engine. That is coming.
[doublepost=1543337015][/doublepost]

Billions of dollars are paid by Google to have their search default on Apple devices but apple don't mind that.

I honestly think the heads of both companies secretly work together to give the illusion of choice to consumers and limit competition.

Why not take the money and simultaneously direct users elsewhere? Seems like a win-win. Google isn't going to lose that foothold no matter what.

 

[mcfrazieriv]

Great tip! Subtle features that are often overlooked.

Your dog looks pleased.

 

[coolfactor]

When using the Search Engine feature (Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing) to do a site-specific search, there should be no spaces after site:

site:macrumors.com search term here

Your instructions above show a space after site:, which is not valid.

 

[jozero]

Fantastic tip. Love these occasional articles on MacRumors.

 

[msephton]

List of sites that have this? Didn’t know it existed until now

You can find Safari's store of Quick Website Search information on your system in /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Safari/SearchDescriptions.plist

Of course that will only include sites that you've visited since this feature was introduced in 2014.

 

[Defthand]

I love that Apple is doing everything they can to cut Google out of the search equation.

Careful what you wish for. While Google may be intrusive, Apple is controlling.
[doublepost=1543425266][/doublepost]Keep the useful demos coming. I imagine they are probably ignored by the greater numbers of casual users who are more concerned about recreation and entertainment. It would be a delight if MacRumors had a sister site dedicated to productivity seekers… e.g. MacRumorsPro… focused on Apple’s pro level solutions and third party tools. The frivolous news about watchbands and emojis can be links in the margins.