How to Change Default Search Engine in Chrome, Edge, Safari, Opera, and Firefox

Chrome is the most popular browser in the world right now, and naturally comes with Google search out of the box. What if you don’t want Google, though, or need to switch back? Here’s how to change search engine on Chrome to whichever you want.

1. Chrome settings
    
   With Chrome open press the three dots in the top-right corner, next to your profile image.

    

   

2. “Search engine” in the sidebar and change the dropdown
    
   By default, you’ll have a choice between Google, Bing, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia. If you’d like to use a different search engine, follow the steps below.

    

   

3. Optional: Click “Manage search engines”
    
   It should be located just below the dropdown from the previous step.

    

   

4. Change default search engine to one you’ve visited before
    
   If you’ve visited a search engine before, it’ll probably show up under the “Other search engines” section in your Chrome settings. Press the three dots next to it and choose “Make default” to switch to it.

    

   

5. OR: Add a new default search engine to Chrome
    
   If your search engine isn’t in either list, you can instead press the “Add” button between the “default” and “other” lists.

    

   

6. Enter your search engine details
    
   You’ll need to enter a name, URL, and keyword for your new search engine. Typing the keyword will give you quick access to the search engine when it isn’t your default.

   To get the URL of your search engine, make a search on it and then replace your search term in its URL with %s.

   For example, if I were to search for Winbuzzer on DuckDuckGo, it would return the URL https://duckduckgo.com/?q=winbuzzer&t=h_&ia=web. I would therefore enter https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s in the “URL with %s in place of query” field.

   Press “Add” when you’re done.

    

   

7. How to change default search engine in Chrome to your custom search
    
   To set your new search engine as the default, look for it in the “Other search engines” list. Them, click the three dots next to its name and press “Make default”.

    

   

In Firefox, changing default search engine has been made quite simple. This is good, because the out-of-the-box search engine is Google, which contrasts with Firefox’s privacy-focused nature.

This is how you change it to something else or make Google the default search engine again if you need to switch back.

1. Open Firefox settings
    

   With Firefox open, press the hamburger menu in the top right and select “Settings”.

    

   

2. Click “Search” in the sidebar and look for the dropdown under “Default Search Engine”
    
   By default, you’ll probably have the option of Google, Amazon, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Wikipedia. You may also have some local search engines.

    

   

3. Add more search engine options to Firefox
    

   If your favorite search engine isn’t in the list, scroll down until you see a table of search engines and their keywords and press “Find more search engines” underneath it.

    

   

4. Look for your preferred search engine in the add-on store
    
   In our case, that means searching for Amazon. However, there are hundreds of other options available.

    

   

5. Press “Add to Firefox” on the extension page.
    
    

   

6. Click “Add” on the pop-up
    
    

   

7. Change the Firefox default search engine to your new choice
    
   You can do so via the same dropdown we showed earlier, which is in “Settings > Search”.

    

   

In Microsoft Edge, the change search engine function is much more tucked away. This can be quite frustrating, as it starts out with Bing. Here’s how to set Google as the default search engine instead or add a custom one.

1. Open Microsoft Edge Settings
    

   As with any other browser, the process starts in the settings menu. You can find it by pressing the three dots in the top-right corner of your Edge window and then clicking “Settings”.

    

   

2. Select “Privacy, search, and services” in the sidebar and click “Address bar and search”
    

   Microsoft has put the “Address bar and search” button at the very bottom of the settings page, under the “Services” heading.

    

   

3. Change default search engine in Edge via dropdown
    
   Clicking the button will take you to another page, where you’ll see a heading called “Search engine used in the address bar”. Click the dropdown menu next to that and choose from the list of search engines there if any catch your fancy.
    
   One nice thing about Edge is that it automatically populates this list with all the search engines you’ve visited for easy access. However, if you haven’t visited the search engine yet, you can follow our steps for manual setup below.

   

4. Optional: Add a custom search engine by pressing “Manage search engines”
    
   You should find the option right underneath the dropdown from the previous step, at the bottom of the page.

    

   

5. Press “Add” in the top-right corner
    
    

   

6. Enter the name, keyword, and URL for your default search engine
    
   Typing the keyword will give you quick access to the search engine when it isn’t your default.

   To get the URL of your search engine, make a search on it and then replace your search term in its URL with %s.

   For example, if I were to search for Winbuzzer on DuckDuckGo, it would return the URL https://duckduckgo.com/?q=winbuzzer&t=h_&ia=web. I would therefore enter https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s in the “URL with %s in place of query” field.

   Press “Add” when you’re done.

    

   

7. Press the three dots next to your search engine and press “Make default”
    
    

   

Opera isn’t the most popular search engine in the world, but it has a strong niche fanbase. It ships with Google by default, which many will enjoy, but you may also be looking to switch to a more privacy-focused alternative. Here’s how you can dive into Opera settings to change where the Opera search bar takes you:

1. Open Opera settings
    
   Press the abacus icon in the top-right corner of your browser, then press “Go to full browser settings” to open your Opera settings.

    

   

2. Scroll down to the Opera search engine heading and change the dropdown
    
   You’ll have the option between Google Search, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, Amazon, Bing, and Wikipedia. However, you can add additional ones by following the steps below:

    

   

3. Click the “Manage search engines” button underneath the dropdown
    

   

4. Add additional Opera search engines

   Scroll past the table until you see the “Other search engines” heading, then press “Add” on the right-hand side.

    

   

5. Enter your search engine details
    
   You’ll need to enter a name, URL, and keyword for your new search engine. Typing the keyword will give you quick access to the search engine when it isn’t your default.

   To get the URL of your search engine, make a search on it and then replace your search term in its URL with %s.

   For example, if I were to search for hello on the US google translate, it would return the URL https://www.google.com/search?q=google+translate+hello&. I would therefore enter https://www.google.com/search?q=google+translate+% in the “URL with %s in place of query” field.

   Press “Add” when you’re done.

    

   

6. Change the Opera default search engine via the “Other search engines” table
    
   Now all you need to do is press the three dots next to your new entry and press “Make default”.

    

   

If you’re changing search engine on Safari, things are a little more simple. You should be able to make Google the default search engine, or switch to Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo, in just four clicks:

1. Open Safari preferences
    
   Click on “Safari” in your menu bar and then press “Preferences…”.

    

   

2. Change search engine
    

   Open the “Search” tab in your Safari preferences and look for the “Search engine” heading. Click the dropdown next to it and select a search engine from the list.

    

   

Some search engines don’t carry their preferences over to mobile and have a slightly different process to change the default search engine. Here’s how to make the adjustment in Chrome. We’ll be using Android, but it should be more or less the same in iOS.

1. Press the three dots in the top-right corner of your browser
    

   

2. Click “Settings”

    

   

3. Click the “Search engine” button under “Basics”
    

   

4. Choose a new search engine from the list
    
   You should have the choice between Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia.

    

   

In Firefox mobile, changing search engine is quite different from any of its competitors. The key is in the browsers bottom-based address bar:

1. Open Firefox and click on the address bar

    

   

2. Press the “Search engine” button above the address bar

    

   

3. Choose from the list or tap “Search engine settings”
    

   

4. Press “Add search engine”
    

   

5. Enter the details of your new default search engine
    

   Enter the name for your search engine, followed by the search string underneath.

   To get the search string of your search engine, make a search on it and then replace your search term in its URL with %s.

   For example, if I were to search for Winbuzzer on DuckDuckGo, it would return the URL https://duckduckgo.com/?q=winbuzzer&t=h_&ia=web. I would therefore enter https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%s in the “Search string to use” field.