Navigating Google search results using keyboard shortcuts

Some will think this is not related to programming but I think it is, because most of the time when I encounter programming issues I search on Google to find solutions or ways to do what I plan to do before I start writing it from scratch. Let's face it, we all copy pasters...

I don't like to remove my hands from the keyboard. Google had a feature after you submit a query and press Tab it will start navigating within the search results. Most likely because they had a tabindex attribute which was was removed.

Does anyone know why sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't? I'm starting to think I should create a Chrome app that will add the tab index to the results, but I don't want to do it before I am 100% sure this feature was removed.

As of 2017-07-31, Google removed this feature entirely from search.

I created the open source Web Search Navigator extension to fix this and add extra features (like configurable keyboard shortcuts).

See installation instructions.

Hope you find it useful, but in any case - feedback is welcome!

Finally I manage to figure it out!!! if you are using google search settings in Hebrew this awesome feature is not available, so I changed the search settings to english and it works great!

https://www.google.com/preferences

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small update thanks @Sanook it looks like the instant results also need to be enabled, I checked it several times and seems that lang should be defined as English and instant results need to be enabled.

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2017-07-31 update

It looks like now google abandoned the instant results feature which is causing the whole search navigation via keyboard to be unsupported. I posted in their forum and hope it will comeback sometime... search-forum

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-search-keyboard-sh/iobmefdldoplhmonnnkchglfdeepnfhd/reviews

Chrome plugin which emulates what Google Instant results used to do. TABing between results is back :-)

There is also a Chrome Extension called RESULTER, which does not solve the exact problem described in the question, but provides good search results navigation anyway.

You can download it from Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/resulter-shortcuts-for-se/chojfhfgbdaeokblbdeahgbijodikdpk

Official website: https://getresulter.com

The down arrow works for me. Pressing the down arrow once moves focus to the first result then again will continue through the results.

Tab will gradually cycle through items on the page: Google logo, search box, menu items then eventually to the search results.

Chrome Version 51.0.2704.103 (64-bit) OSX 10.5.5 Macbook Pro