How to Earn Gift Cards and Cash By Changing Your Search Engine

If you don't have a lot of time, but want to make money doing something you already do, consider changing how you search.

The first site I would suggest you start with is Microsoft Rewards (through Bing). Bing gives you 5 points for every searches from your computer you perform (150 points a day) and bonus points for completing quizzes and other simple tasks. 10 points is equal to about $.01. You can also earn bonus points and do an additional 20 searches for 100 points on your smartphone every day. With a few extra tasks this adds up to about 28 cents per day and takes  me 2-3 minutes max to complete. A tip for doing this quickly: just go to Bing's home page, and at the bottom there are a series pictures of the top news stories of the day. Click each picture until the stories are done.

This also helps you keep up to date on the major stories of the day as well which is pretty nice. I find it easier to try to set a specific time each day and just knock it out very quickly. I don't recommend making this your default search engine, as you are limited on the number of searches you get credited for. Amazon gift cards start at 550 for $5 (475 once you reach gold status). You can sign up here.

In an earlier post I mentioned how good Swagbucks is at making additional money. If you make Swagbucks your default search engine, every now and again you will get a search "win" which will give you anywhere from 5-15 SB ($.05-$.15) and more during bonus times each month. I normally can get 1-2 search wins a day which over a week can really start adding up. One of the secrets I use is that I search the major sites I visit every day through the default search engine, and then save the search results pages as bookmarks. Each time I go to visit those links it's an additional search. Think of every time you open up your email, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Netflix, maps, Youtube, etc. is a search you could be performing and earning money on.

Just today alone I've already made over 20 SB ($.20) just for going to the sites I visit normally every day. You can learn how to default your search engine to Swagbucks here. Use my link here and use the sign up code "RSWAGBUCKS" to get an automatic 70 SB ($.70). Swagbucks pays out in gift cards (as low as 300 sb for $3 gift card) and PayPal (2500 for $25 sent to your PayPal account)

I have tried a few other sites, including GiftHulk and Inboxdollars, both of these can be easy and consistent to use, if you know what you are doing and are both worth trying out.

Gifthulk prefers that you don't do repetitive or continuous searches. Payout for searches is instant and can be quite good. So if you search 5 or so times a day it's a quick way to earn a bit of money. This site has a good amount of other offers, surveys, and a good watch that can help you bring in money on the side. Also make sure to do the daily guess a card. Make sure to sign up with my referral link for a bonus!

Inboxdollars requires that all searches are new, and gives you a bonus for doing searches 4 days a week($.05). They only pay in check, which can be nice the payout threshold is $30. With a referral link, you get $5 just for signing up! Additionally you get paid emails which net you .02 per email you confirm.

Overall these sites can really start adding up. I get at least 2 $5 amazon gift cards per month from Microsoft Rewards. With Amazon's subscribe and save we have been able to pay for some of the basics we need every month using Amazon gift cards. The cost is fairly comparable on the major brands. If you're a college student, this could be a way to pay for some of your books, or dorm needs. Bing also has other gift cards including  Xbox Live membership, Hulu membership,  Gamestop,  and Microsoft store. As always if you know of someone who is looking to make a little money to make it by, feel free to email them this article or share it with them on Facebook and Twitter.