Guide | Vivaldi Search and Suggestion URL explanation and tutorial (simple).

Demongornot

Vivaldi Search and Suggestion URL explanation and tutorial (simple).

When I did setup my Search Engines URLs in Vivaldi, it took me a lot of time (and I haven't finished yet at the time of creation of this topic) because there isn't easily accessible informations available, and when they are, they are scattered around or complicated as you require background knowledge.
So here is a post to explain some of the things about how to setup your search engines.

So, on your Search Engine page in Vivaldi's settings, when you add one :

Well the basics, the Name is simply how you want to call it, this is how, when searching with it, Vivaldi will call it, so you are free to call it how you want.

The Nickname is basically what you will type to search with this particular search engine.
By default, any research will be done with your default search engine, and when you are in private mode, the one set as default for private navigation will be used (DuckDuckGo by default).
If you search "Kitten" your default search engine will be summoned and will search for "Kitten", but, if you use Startpage with nickname g (by default) and you type "g Kitten" then Vivaldi will bring you to Startpage with the search for "Kitten"
If you add any search engine with a "i" or a "a" as first letter of their name and you add any of those as nickname letter, just keep in mind that if you do a search starting with one of those letter, you will actually search with those search engine.
So if your default search engine is Startpage and you search "i want to believe" while having a search engine with "i" as nickname, you will endup searching "want to believe" in this search engine rather than "i want to believe" in Startpage.
And the nickname isn't case sensitive, meaning the letter will enable the search with this engine regardless if you are in lowercase or uppercase.
A simple solution for this would be to add a sign, for example "*a" or "!a" for your search engine starting with the letter "a".

For adding a search engine, the easy way is to go to said search engine, right click on the search field (where you type the stuff you want to search) and you normally have an option for adding as a search engine, but it won't work with everything, some search engine don't have this menu option available.

In this case, you need to go the "hard way" which actually isn't that hard (and that I prefer as I get clean link, understand what happen and can be fine tuned).
-First step : Go to your search engine
-Second step : Search for something simple, a single word easily readable, like "Kitten"
-Third step : Copy the URL of the search, paste it as Search URL for your search engine in Vivaldi, and replace the word you used with "%s"
Warning, this would only work with search engine where the search is performed with an URL, meaning Discord for example where the search is dynamic and only show search as you type and don't have any search result page won't work.
On the other hand, this mean you can add anything you want which have a result page, not just search engine.
-Fourth step : If you know a Suggestion URL for your search engine, add it and as usual, put "%s" where the searched word goes.
-Fifth step : Finalise your link by changing some settings on them if you know how to do it and need it.

An example of a non search engine which can be added is literally this forum with the link :

https://forum.vivaldi.net/search?term=%s&in=titlesposts

Now to setup a link, we will go with the most documented, Google, I won't cover everything, just the basic.

Here is the simplest search URL of google :

https://www.google.com/search?q=%s

Here is an example of a more customised one :

https://www.google.com/search?hl=fr&q=%s&lr=lang_en&cr=countryUS

Don't be afraid this is simpler than it look.

The parameter "search" is made to bring the search page, but it require arguments which follow the question mark "?" and between different parameters (after the first one, which itself don't need it between itself and the question mark) you need the "&" sign.

The parameter "q='your text here'" basically is what you want to search, I think "q" stand for Query.

Then "hl=fr" simply set the language of the interface (text of the search buttons and link's text for Google's service like Gmail, Translation, map etc and the search options on the search page), "fr" will make it French, "hl=en" will set it in English, "hl=ru" in Russian etc.
It work with the main page of google too, also don't forget the question mark :

https://www.google.com/?hl="your language"

Now "lr=lang_en" basically is the language the search will prioritise the results of you research, with with "lr=lang_ru" will get Russian results and "lr=lang_en" will get you English results.

And "cr=countryUS" is for where the research will base your result on, so with "cr=countryUS" you'll get relevant things for US while "cr=countryIT" you'll get Italian based result, but don't expect much from this as there isn't many things that share the same key word(s) who are country based and where it could be relevant.

Of course you can combine all those and do this :

https://www.google.com/search?hl=es&q=Flugzeug&lr=lang_pl&cr=countryko

Basically you have a Spanish google interface searching the German word for Airplane "Flugzeug" with Polish language results and Korean location, as you see you aren't forced to use the same language for each parameters.
Also they are not case sensitive, so even cR=cOunTrYuK will work, but you can put only one of those parameters.

If you don't put any parameters, by default Google detect where your IP come from and simply adapt the page language, result language and location relevance.
Though for the "lr" parameter, the language of the key word(s) you search with might have the priority, so if you search a German word with Japanese language result parameter, your results can vary, depending on what ou wrote, from having Japanese results of website with German words translation in them (most common I think), to simply German language website or Japanese websites with German word(s) on them.
For example if you search for :

https://www.google.com/search?lr=lang_en&cr=countryUS&hl=en&q=猫

(note that the order of the parameters don't matter)
Where 猫 mean "Cat" in Japanese, you'll endup with mostly Japanese language results even though every parameters are set to English.
Even with the parameters, Google will still sort results based on your location, even the language you set for the interface change what results you'll get, including what datas Google gathered from you, so don't expect previsible results even with those parameters, just more targeted than usual.

Then Google offer another useful parameter which is the type of service you will use :

https://www.google.com/search?hl=fr&tbm=isch&q=Kitten

will search image with the relevant keyword (Kitten here) with a French interface.
The parameter "tbm=isch" is for Google image (Image SearCh), "nws" is for news, "vid" for video, "shop" for shopping, "bks" for books and "fin" for finance (there are more).

Now for the Suggestions URL, often called Autocomplete API, you can find some of the same set of parameters for language and other parameters, and basically there isn't much you can do other than taking one of those I'll list or try and search for each search engine which have suggestion.
Google have multiples Suggestion URL, here are two of them :

https://www.google.com/complete/search?output=opera&q=%s
http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?&client=opera&q=%s

The "Output/Client" part is really important and can't be skipped, it determine what format the suggestion will be send as, Vivaldi require Json format, so setting a browser (like Opera) as value who also use Json is enough, no need to specifically state "Vivaldi", and to be honest most search engine won't even have it as a registered parameter setting.
Each search engine is free to use their own name to set how the format are being send, Google use "client=opera" while DuckDuckGo use "type=list" and Startpage use "format=json", so you will need to search for which engine, if they are doc available, what to use.

Another possible parameter would be the number of results displayed, Vivaldi only display suggestions 5 maximum anyway, so if available, limit this list to 5 elements (setting it higher won't make more suggestions appear), an example with Startpage who use this parameter and argument "limit=5" to set the number of suggestions to return.

Note that you can basically paste the suggestion URL in your browser address bar, you'll get either a page or a file with the results (depending on the search engine).
For Google you can actually use "client=toolbar" to have the results in the page rather than receiving a file each time you send the URL/refresh.
Also note that the way it work is basically, you type words and the API you set the URL for will return suggestions, once you click on it, what happen is basically the text of the suggestion will be sent to the search URL you put in Vivaldi, replacing the "%s" sign, meaning you can create an hybrid using x1 language for suggestions and x2 language for your research.
Actually you can go even further and create a Chimera by puting DuckDuckGo (or any other Suggestion URL you have) to Bing search (also any other search engine you have) and it will work.
Though it might be useful to crossbreed search engine, you won't really get relevant results if you use Google Suggestions API with Vivaldi's Forum search as the context is totally different.

Of course there are many more parameters to play with, Google for example with advanced search allow for exact word(s), date, exclude word(s), Safe Search and many more for both Search and Suggestion, but each search engine having their own code, it would be way too long to list it here, and to be honest I don't know many much more...

Also as you saw with the Vivaldi's Forum link I wrote just before, you can add more than Search Engines.

Now here are some examples and links, this is basically my whole list I set on Search Settings so it can give you an idea of what you can add other than Search Engines and also it will list some useful URLs :

They are all listed on this post this way :
Search name, search nickname, details
Search URL
Suggestion URL
(optional) Additional informations

Google, g, nothing particular, just google set to search in English based on US to get as many international results as possible.

Search URL : https://www.google.com/search?hl=EN&lr=Lang_EN&cr=CountryUS&q=%s
Suggestion URL : https://www.google.com/complete/search?output=Opera&hl=EN&lr=Lang_EN&cr=countryUS&q=%s

Google Français, gf, Google set to give French results with French location.

Search URL : https://www.google.fr/search?hl=FR&lr=Lang_FR&cr=CountryFR&q=%s
Suggestion URL : https://www.google.com/complete/search?output=Opera&hl=FR&lr=Lang_FR&cr=countryFR&q=%s

Google Image, gi, Google Image, note that the Suggestion URL being different, the parameters are also different, image search is set with "ds=i".

Search URL : https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=EN&lr=Lang_EN&cr=countryUS&q=%s
Suggestion URL : https://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?client=Opera&ds=i&hl=EN&lr=Lang_EN&cr=CountryUS&q=%s

Youtube, y, Youtube with his Suggestion API as explained previously.

Search URL : https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%s
Suggestion URL : https://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?client=Opera&ds=YT&hl=EN&lr=Lang_EN&cr=CountryUS&q=%s

Wikipedia, w, Yes Wikipedia can be added too, the language subdomains determine what language Suggestion and Search will be, clicking on a suggestion will directly bring you to that page, "limit=5" make Wikipedia only send 5 suggestions at each key word(s) change.

Search URL : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s
Suggestion URL : https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch&search=%s&limit=5

Wikipedia Français (Well, I am French, so you know...), wf, just Wikipedia with French Suggestions and results.

Search URL : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s
Suggestion URL : https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch&search=%s&limit=5

DuckDuckGo, d, already in Vivaldi, but I'll still put default Search engine anyway, could be useful.

Search URL : https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s&t=vivaldi
Suggestion URL : https://ac.duckduckgo.com/ac/?q=%s&type=list

Qwant, q,

Search URL : https://www.qwant.com/?client=brz-vivaldi&q=%s
Suggestion URL : https://api.qwant.com/api/suggest/?q=%s&client=opensearch&lang=fr_fr

Bing, b,

Search URL : https://www.bing.com/search?q=%s
Suggestion URL : https://www.bing.com/osjson.aspx?query=%s

Yahoo!, yh,

Search URL : https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%s
Suggestion URL : https://sugg.search.yahoo.net/sg/?output=fxjson&nresults=5&command=test

Startpage, s,

Search URL : https://www.startpage.com/rvd/search?query=%s&language=auto
Suggestion URL : https://www.startpage.com/cgi-bin/csuggest?query=%s&limit=5&lang=english&format=json

Ecosia, e,

Search URL : https://www.ecosia.org/search?tt=vivaldi&q=%s
Suggestion URL : https://ac.ecosia.org/autocomplete?q=%s&type=list

Youcare, yc, Like Ecosia this is a (French) caritative search engine which feed animals with revenue from ads/sponsored links, they don't communicate their Suggestion API URL though, so I use Google.

Search URL : https://youcare.world/all?l=fr&q=%s&o=0
Suggestion URL : https://www.google.com/complete/search?output=Opera&q=%s

I use Ecosia and Youcare when I do small (easy for a search engine) research, otherwise I use google which is more powerful and relevant, this is why I did not set specific language to Google Suggestion API for Youcare.

Amazon, *a, Yes Amazon can be added, in my case I have no use to use the English/US version, so just change ".fr" to ".com" and you are clear to go, also the nickname is "*a" rather than "a" as a sentence can begin with the letter "a".

Search URL : https://www.amazon.fr/s?k=%s
Suggestion URL : https://completion.amazon.com/search/complete?search-alias=aps&client=amazon-search-ui&mkt=1&q=%s

This is the English Suggestion, I did not yet found how to make it in other language, I'll update it when I found.

Stack Overflow, so, that famous huge website for code and other computer related questions.

Search URL : https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=%s

Suggestion URL : None.

TVDB, t, a website which give many useful informations (like the episodes, their name, number and order) on tv series or animes (no movies though)

Search URL : https://www.thetvdb.com/search?q=%s&l=en

Suggestion URL : None.

TVDB Français, tf, same but with French results

Search URL : https://www.thetvdb.com/search?q=%s&l=fr

Suggestion URL : None.

IMDb, i, another website for getting movies informations, I needed to put a star sign "" because there are many sentences starting with "i".

Search URL : https://www.imdb.com/find?ref_=nv_sr_fn&q=%s&s=all

Suggestion URL : There is one but Vivaldi is not compatible as it include images, might search latter if there is a way to disable images.

Metacritic, m, one of the most popular media rating website

Search URL : https://www.metacritic.com/search/all/%s/results