How to Add a GIF Search Bar to Google Chrome

Even if you’re more of a still photo kind of person, there’s no denying the amusing, occasionally captivating quality of an animated GIF file.

Graphics Interchange Format files are a manifestation of our collective desire to communicate and share information in new ways on the internet. They’re also incredibly succinct: sometimes a good GIF can say it all. GIFs will likely become more popular and prevalent as the digital age advances, which is why searching for them keeps getting easier. Google Chrome’s simple hack for adding a GIF search bar to your browser follows suit.

This Chrome adjustment is well worth the installment: it only takes a few moments to deliver yourself to the internet’s massive archive of moving images. Here’s how to add the gif search bar.

First, go to your “Preferences” menu in Chrome and hit “Manage search engines” under the “Search” tab, or copy & paste this URL into the address bar: chrome://settings/searchEngines. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll find three empty fields. Type the word “Gif” into the first two fields — “Add a new search engine” and “Keyword” — and copy & paste “https://www.google.com/search?q=%s&tbm=isch&tbs=itp:animated” into the “URL with %s in place of query” field. Click “Done” when you’re finished.

Now it’s time to test out the new function. Clear your address bar, enter the word “GIF,” and then press “Tab.” You’ll see a blue “Search gif:” icon with a magnifying glass appear your address bar.

And just like that, you’re free to search GIFs using Google. Just look at how many results this Mariah Carey GIF search yields:

With this update, you’ll surely be a more GIFted internet user. Happy surfing, everyone, and remember there is a Britney Spears GIF for every situation.