I know, it sounds weird, but I prefer Bing as my search engine over Google, but I prefer Google Chrome as my Web browser. How can I change Chrome to use Bing as my default search engine in Windows?
You’re right, there’s no way around it, seems peculiar to use Google’s Chrome web browser but then use Bing as your default search engine. Then again, it is not only doable to change the default search engine but surprisingly easy. It’s great that we have these options and this level of flexibility with our tools too: It wasn’t that long ago that your Web browser would have been locked into the search engine that the developers felt was best. Now you can use DuckDuckGo as your search engine even as you use Microsoft Edge which is built atop the open source version of Google Chrome called Chromium!
As with so many things in a modern Web browser, there are a variety of ways you can change the default search engine. I’ll show you the easiest, along with the easiest way to ascertain which search engine you have selected (namely by opening up a new tab). Ready?
HOW TO CHANGE DEFAULT SEARCH ENGINE IN CHROME
Fire up Chrome on your Windows PC and open up a new tab. Probably it’ll look a lot like this:
Not only is the main area obviously the Google home page, but notice also that the address bar / search box also shows a Google “G” logo.
To fix it, right-click in the blank address box. A menu pops up:
As highlighted, you want to choose “Manage search engines…“. Do so and you’ll be deep in the settings and preferences area for Google Chrome:
These are the most common choices on the top: Google, Bing, Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo.
Note: Haven’t heard of DuckDuckGo? It’s a pretty nice search engine too, with a focus on privacy. If you’re sick of being tracked and your searches changing what ads you see, DuckDuckGo might be a great option to explore.
Scroll down a bit and you’ll see that there are even more options if you have more specific search preferences:
You’d be a pretty hard core shopper to use BestBuy or Amazon as your default, but you can if you want to!
Or… let’s change it to Bing. To do that, click on the vertically oriented “•••” link adjacent to that entry. A small menu pops up:
Easy enough. Choose “Make default” and it changes. In fact, the “(default)” moves down too:
Done. Now open up a new tab and check out what occurs:
Obviously, the main area is showing Microsoft Bing, from the cool Mayan pyramid photo to the search box. But look more closely and you’ll see the icon in the Chrome address bar / search box is now the funky ‘b’ of Bing too!
Mission accomplished. Now, good luck with Bing in Chrome and don’t be surprised if somewhere along the way Chrome suggests you switch to Google for your searches…
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Windows since the early days and have quite an extensive Windows 10 Help Library here on the site. Please do check it out while you’re visiting. Thanks!