Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers out there, and it's fair to say that success is tied to the popularity of the company's search engine. Google has been the go-to search engine for most people for well over a decade, and it makes perfect sense for it to be the default option, especially on something like a great Chromebook.

But there are some users who might like Google Chrome but don't want to use Google as the default search engine. Whether it's because you want something with a heavier emphasis on privacy, like DuckDuckGo, or a more novel alternative like the environment-friendly Ecosia, changing the default search engine on Google Chrome is a relatively painless process. We'll show you how to do it, and just for clarification, we're doing this on Windows 11, but the procedure should be the same on other platforms where Chrome is available.

How to change the default search engine in Chrome

Out of the box, Google gives you a few options for search engines you can use as the default. If you want to change your default, do the following:

  1. Launch Google Chrome on your computer.
  2. Click the menu button (the three dots) near the top-right corner of the browser window, and then choose Settings.
    Screenshot of Google Chrome with the menu button and Settings option highlighted
  3. In the Settings page, choose the Search engine tab on the left-side menu.
  4. Next to Search engine used in the address bar, you'll see a list of search engines to choose from, so you can simply choose what you prefer.
    Screenshot of search engine settings in Google Chrome showing a list of search engines to choose from as the default
  5. The search engine you chose will now be used when you search in the address bar, and you'll also see it on the default new tab page.

That should help you if the search engine you want to use is on the default list. But if it's not there, you can add a new search engine to Chrome relatively easily.

Adding a new search engine

Unlike Microsoft Edge, Google doesn't automatically add every search engine you visit to the list above. Instead, when you visit a website that registers as a search engine, such as YouTube, Chrome will recognize it but put it on a list of inactive shortcuts. This means it takes a little more work to add a new one, but it might also be useful to prevent the list from being flooded with all kinds of pages that register as search engines.

To add a search engine, first you'll want to visit its website and perform any search. Once you do, that website will be added to the inactive shortcuts list we just mentioned. Then, you can follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Search engine page as described in the steps above.
  2. Choose Manage search engines and site search.
    Screenshot of Search engine settings in Google Chrome with the Manage search engines button highlighted
  3. Your inactive shortcuts are at the bottom of this page. Click Activate next to the search engine you want to add to the list of active search engines.
    Screenshot of Google Chrome search engine management page with the Activate button highlighted for a search engine in the inactive list

    Adding a search engine to the active list makes it so that you can perform a search in that search engine by typing the associated shortcut (it will show up under Site search) in your address bar. It doesn't automatically become your default search engine.

  4. If you want to use this new search engine as the default, click the three-dot icon next to the button and then choose Make default. You can do this directly from the list of inactive shortcuts, too.
    Screenshot of the search engine management page in Google Chrome showing the option to make a search engine the default
  5. You can always follow the steps in the section above to choose a new default search engine from your active list.

If the search engine you want to use isn't automatically recognized by Chrome, you can also add it manually using the Add button under Site search. However, sites added manually can't be set as the default search engine for all your searches. You can only use these by using the associated shortcut before typing your query.

And that's about all you need to change the default search engine in Google Chrome.It's not a very complicated process, but if you've never done it before, you might not know exactly how to find your way around. If you're interested in changing your default browser to Google Chrome (or anything else), you might also want to check out how to change your default browser in Windows 11. And if you decide to stick with Microsoft's official browser, we also have a guide on how to change the default search engine in Edge.