How to Change the Default Search Engine in Chrome

Typing in Chrome's address bar sends the query to Google unless you change it. The switch takes a few clicks in Settings, and you can add an engine that is not on the built-in list.

Open the Search engine settings

Click the three-dot menu at the top right, then Settings, then Search engine in the left sidebar. Or paste this into the address bar:

chrome://settings/search

Pick an engine from the dropdown

Next to Search engine used in the address bar, open the dropdown and choose the one you want. Chrome lists Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and a few others depending on your region. The change applies immediately. No restart is needed.

Add an engine that is not listed

Click Manage search engines and site search. Under Site search, click Add. Fill in three fields:

• Name: what shows in the list, for example Brave Search.
• Shortcut: a short word you can type in the address bar, followed by a space, to search that engine directly. For example, br.
• URL with %s in place of query: the search address, with %s where the search term goes. For example, https://search.brave.com/search?q=%s.

To find the right URL for any engine, run a search on its site and copy the address from the result page, then replace your search term with %s.

Click Add.

Make the new engine the default

Back on the Manage search engines and site search page, find the engine you added, click the three-dot button on its row, and choose Make default. It now shows as the selected engine in the dropdown from the second step.

If the setting keeps reverting. Something else is controlling it. Open chrome://extensions and remove any extension that changes search or the new tab page. Then check the policy page:

chrome://policy

A search-related entry there means the browser is managed by a workplace, a school, or leftover software on the computer, and the setting cannot be changed from inside Chrome until that policy is removed.