These are some of the services with which Google wants to take third-party traffic

Google has long ceased to be a simple search engine. In it we can find everything that exists on the Internet – or almost everything – and at the same time, without abandoning it, doing many other things that only a few years ago we would not have imagined. That primitive directory born at the end of the nineties is now a set of small utilities available from the search field.

They are small add-ons that enrich the user experience, answer users’ questions much more than search results can do, and in most cases, they are likely to reduce traffic to third-party sites. Web pages whose reason for being is, precisely, the one that is responsible for solving from Mountain View with these special features.

Is Google abusing its dominant position as a gateway to the internet? Could it be a situation comparable to the one that cost Microsoft a few years ago? We are not the ones who have to answer, but we are going to review some of the services that, presumably, are designed to supply others who until now did not complete the related searches.

Checking the speed of our internet connection

We start with what is probably the most recent: the speed test. Virtually since the beginning of internet times measuring the speed of the connection has been almost an obsession . Before, when ADSL connections were usually short of speed with respect to what was hired, and now, when fiber connections abound in many places and check those speeds of vertigo is a pleasure.

That’s why a good number of speed tests have sprung up over the years and now Google has signed up for the car. Simply write “speed test”, “speed test” or “internet speed test” and it appears ready to use. The owners of the tests that have repeatedly attracted traffic through the search engine will not be too happy.

What time is it, Google?

Other services that have traditionally taken many visits thanks to Google are the websites dedicated to providing the weather forecast. It is common for many users to look for the time they do in a certain city and want to know, in addition, what the forecast is for the next few days. Well, Google answers all that .

Just write the word “time” along with the name of any city or territory in the same suggested results of the Chrome search bar, if we use that browser, we will see the current situation. If we continue writing and press enter, in the results page Google will offer us the current status along with a complete forecast for the whole week with data on temperatures, rainfall and wind. Pretty complete.

Let’s see how this match was …

Many people feel a true passion for sports, especially football, and they know it well at Google. At the end of December, taking advantage of a match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the polls began , and day after day it is possible to consult the results of the matches , the match calendar or the information of a particular team without leaving the search engine.

It will not be necessary to do anything more than write the name of the team and search . Immediately, even if it is a team of categories lower than the first division of the most important leagues, the information of the set will appear with information about matches, statistics, news … A good way to be informed about your favorite team without leaving the search and without entering the sports media websites that until now capitalize this type of data.

Looking for flights to buy or inform you

Whether you want to buy tickets for a specific flight or simply want to know if a certain plane has left, has been delayed or is in flight, Google offers search options.

For example, if we search for a flight from Madrid to London, writing in the search box that same expression, the search engine offers us a block where we can select dates and different options appear for different companies with prices and schedules. If we want to know more, clicking on “Search flights” takes us to www.google.es/flights , direct competition of so many comparators of travel and transportation.

On the other hand, to know the status of a particular flight we can enter your reference, such as “IB 276” , which identifies a flight from Mexico City to Cancun, and Google will indicate the terminal from which it leaves, its time, Maybe the boarding gate, if it is scheduled, if it has been delayed or even if it is in flight. Very useful, of course, to avoid fighting with the airports or airlines websites.

Definitions of words

The Google translator, despite his dubious translations , has always been one of the kings of the internet. For that same reason it does not have too much competition and that the search engine translates when we write things like “how do you say X in English” does not reduce too much traffic to others.

What it does do is the definitions of words it has been offering for some time. It is enough to write something similar to “what X means” to obtain an immediate definition without having to access any online dictionary , which may be losing with this. For more inri, this special functionality also allows us to know, sometimes, the origin of the searched term as well as obtain the translation in dozens of languages.

Real-time stock results

Google also serves to take a quick look at the quotes of a company that interests us, saving us from visiting portals dedicated to the information of the markets, who lose with this feature. As in the other functionalities, the search to perform is the most obvious. We can write “Alphabet Quote”, for example, and the results on the stock exchange of this company will appear on the screen with the latest figures in graph, a historical and the rest of the most outstanding data.

Also, if we click on the star that appears in the quotation block, that value will be included in a new tab that will appear in the Google search results. Where before we saw “Images”, “News”, etc., now “Finance” will also appear . From this section we can see the activity in the stock exchanges of other companies and follow them, to be aware of their movements from a single place.

And more…

To these six services is added the possibility of discovering the lyrics of a song in the search results, the synopsis of a film and its cast, as well as a good number of special features that you can discover in this other article . Although not all, necessarily, they reduce traffic to third parties .

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