1. There's a built-in feature that is much more convenient and simple than what you've described: select the text, rightclick, choose "search".

2. There are also extensions that provide customizations or alternative methods like https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/selection-search/gipnlpdeieaidmmeaichnddnmjmcakoe

Hum, it seems to me you haven't really given my proposal a fair chance, and I don't agree on the "much more convenient" bit.

With what is already there you have to:
1. Select the text
2. Carefully aim the cursor to the selected text
3. Right click on the selected text
4. Carefully select the menu item labeled "search"
5. Left click on it

Compared to:
1. Select the text
2. Press ctrl+T
3. Press enter

Not only it is 3 steps instead than 5, but only the first requires aiming with the cursor, but that you have to do it even in the current system: none of the other 2 steps requires any form of aiming with the mouse. Both left and right clicking with the cursor is considered more painful that a keyboard shortcut. Notice I didn't say "slower", but "painful".

The new method simply removed the ctrl-C and ctrl-V but does not introduce any extra burden on the user, because if s/he decides to search for something else, s/he just has to type it and her new keywords will overwrite the ones already pre-highlighted.

The most important consideration is that most people already do the steps I am suggesting today - even if currently it requires 5 steps - because it is already less painful than the workflow you mentioned (that also requires 5 steps): they prefer it to having to right click, so a shortcut that removes two steps should be welcome. Again, users are already doing this, but we can streamline their workflow even further.

Finally, I believe the reason the "search" item is there is mostly for discoverability, and not because anybody really believes that users like using it.

Unless the user has serious issues with hand movements, rightclicking the selection and choosing "search" menu item comes naturally without any strain or special "aiming". As for "Selection Search" extension, it can be configured to skip the middle step.

Also, what you describe can be implemented even better with an extension that adds a global hotkey to open a new tab automatically with the selected text as a search term. 

Marking this as untraiged as this is a feature request , to get this addressed for further traiging.

Thanks!

Seems like there are security implications of arbitrarily copying a page's selected text to the omnibox.