Ok Google, What Are the Top Google Home Commands?

Your Google Home device can do an impressive number of tasks, but chances are you aren’t even aware of many of them. If you sometimes find that the assistant can’t understand what you’re asking—or that scrolling through the Google Home actions list is too overwhelming—then begin by using some of our favorite Google Home skills instead.  Here’s our list of top Google Home commands by category. In addition to these, you can easily search for and discover new commands in the “Explore” tab of the assistant app.

HEALTH & FITNESS

“Ask WebMD…”

If you’ve ever searched for symptoms online, chances are you’ve stumbled across WebMD. This classic internet resource is useful for identifying probable issues and ailments. While WebMD is never a full substitute for a doctor diagnosis, it’s a great tool for educating oneself before a visit to the doctor’s office. This makes it among our top Google Home skills thanks to its ease of use, just like talking to a health practitioner.

“Talk to Virtual Nurse”

Virtual Nurse is another one of top Google Home commands for healthcare. In addition to diagnostic information, Vitual Nurse can discuss medication side effects, educational tips (like how to use CPR) or answer most health-related questions. Virtual Nurse’s immediacy and simplification earn it a top spot in our Google Home actions list.

“Talk to Which Workout”

A big barrier to establishing a healthy workout routine is simply knowing what kind of exercises to do. Which Workout is one of our top Google Home conversation actions because it functions like your own personal trainer. It’ll ask questions about your lifestyle, then come up with exercises that best suit your needs. Now there’s no excuses, so get moving!

SPORTS

“Ask StatMuse…”

Sports geeks will love StatMuse, which provides staggering knowledge of scores, schedules and key stats from a variety of sports. Its database spans all the way back to the mid-20th century (and early 20th century for some sports). So, you can ask about this season, last season or even 50 years ago! This is one of our favorite in the Google Assistant commands list thanks to the way it makes sifting through vast amounts of info so easily.

Sports Facts

This isn’t an individual command, but rather a category of commands built-in by Google. Simply ask the assistant anything about your favorite team or players, like when the next game is. While this isn’t as detailed as the statistic info provided by StatMuse, it’s good to know you can quickly get the answers to the most pressing sports questions of the season, making it a solid choice of Google Home skills.

AUDIO (MUSIC AND NEWS)

“Tell me about my day”

One of the most impressive Google Home conversation actions is “My Day.” When asking about your day, the assistant will play through a selection of podcasts and radio news briefings according to your interests (which you can set within your settings). This is a great way to instantly see what’s going on in the world as soon as you start your day.

“Play…” followed by artist, song title or radio station

One of the top music commands on the Google Home actions list might seem pretty obvious. Simply asking the device to play something. But did you know you can configure the audio source that this command uses, making it all the more useful? Simply go to your settings, scroll down to the “Services” category and select “Music” to select and link your streaming accounts. In addition to music, you can ask for specific podcast titles to stream.

GAMES & ENTERTAINMENT

“Play Mad Libs”

The classic game of Mad Libs is hardly fun to play by yourself, so play it with your Google Home! This is one of the best games on the Google Assistant commands list because it’s fast, simple and very funny. Simply ask the assistant to play and it will ask for nouns, verbs, adjectives and more to fill in the blanks of a funny story. While you can happily play this alone, it’s great with friends and family too!

“Talk to the Magic Door”

The Magic Door is one of the most popular games in the Google Home actions list, and for good reason. It walks users through a compelling journey. Taking the form of a choose-your-own-adventure story, this choice of top Google Home commands presents a variety of different adventures or situations for you to pursue, encouraging replayability and providing a unique experience each time.

SETTING UP SHORTCUTS AND ROUTINES

Not everyone is aware of shortcuts and routines, which let you further personalize your favorite Google Home conversation actions. Shortcuts are essentially custom commands. For example, rather than say “Hey Google, play my workout playlist,” you might make a shortcut that simply says “Hey Google, let’s move.” Set shortcuts by going to your settings and scrolling to the “Services” category.

Routines, meanwhile, let you string together multiple Google home skills in a shortcut. The benefit to this is obvious. You can easily accomplish many tasks with a single command. For example, you might say “Hey Google, I’m home” to turn on the lights, play soft music and turn on the TV all at once. While it hasn’t rolled out yet, the feature is set to hit Google Home devices soon, so be on the lookout! For now, you can string two actions within a shortcut.

If you’ve built your own Google Home skills, you can measure their effectiveness by using Google Home bot analytics offered by Botanalytics!