How to change Microsoft Edge to Google Search instead of Bing

By default, Microsoft Edge uses Bing as the default search engine, but if you prefer something else – like Google or DuckDuckGo – you can easily change it in the settings menu. Here's how to do it, whether you're running Edge on Windows 10, Windows 11, or Mac.

Switch the default search engine in Microsoft Edge

First, open the Edge browser window. To use Google or another search engine as the default in Microsoft's modern Edge browser, click on the menu button (three dots) located in the upper-right corner and then select "Settings".

On the "Settings" tab, click "Privacy, Search and Services" in the sidebar. (If you don't see the sidebar, expand the size of the browser window or click the three-line hamburger button in the upper-left corner.)

Scroll down to the bottom of the left pane and find the "Services" section. Click on "Address bar and search".

From there, locate the "Search engine used in the address bar" section and choose "Google" or whatever search engine you prefer. In addition to Bing and Google, Microsoft Edge also includes Yahoo! and DuckDuckGo by default.

You're done now. The next time you search from the address bar or by right-clicking on text on a web page and selecting the "Search Web" option, Edge will use your chosen search engine.

If you are satisfied with your choice, you can close the settings. Otherwise, to manage the list of search engines that appears in the list of default settings, click on the option "Manage search engines". You will see a list of search engines. You can remove them from the list or click the Add button and add your own search engine by entering the URL.

Edge will also automatically find search engines when you use them. For example, if you prefer a different search engine, Edge says you should "open a new tab, go to the search engine you want to add, and search for something." It will appear as an option in the menu after using it, assuming the search engine is properly configured to offer that.

Even after changing your default search engine, the search box on a new tab page in Edge will still be the Bing search box. You can use the address bar to search using Google or another search engine from a new tab page in Edge.

Switch the default search engine in the classic version of Microsoft Edge

If you are using the old version of Microsoft Edge on Windows 10 (which Microsoft now considers obsolete), the instructions on how to change the default browser differ from the steps described above. Here's how to do it.

Step One: Get More Search Engines

Microsoft Edge no longer uses the search providers that you must install from the Microsoft website. Instead, when you visit a web page that uses the "OpenSearch" standard to display its search engine information, Edge notices it and makes a record of the search engine information.

This is the same way Google Chrome also works — visit a webpage using OpenSearch and Chrome will detect it automatically.

All you have to do is visit the search engine website to add that search engine to Edge. If you want to install Google, go to the Google homepage. For DuckDuckGo, visit the DuckDuckGo homepage. Once you do that, you can make it the default using the instructions below.

Not every search engine supports OpenSearch yet, but we expect search engines to add support for this very quickly.

Step Two: Change Your Default Search Engine

To change your search provider, click on the menu button - this is the button with three dots in the upper-right corner of the Microsoft Edge window. Select "Settings" in the menu.

On the left side of the "Settings" panel, click on the "Advanced" option at the bottom of the menu.

Scroll down in the Advanced settings panel and you'll see the Address Bar Search setting. Click the "Change search provider" button.

You will see a list of available search providers. Select the search engine you want to use and click or tap Set as Default.

If the search engine you want to use doesn't appear here, make sure you visited the search engine homepage first. If you visit the homepage and it doesn't appear yet, this search engine doesn't support OpenSearch yet. You may want to contact the search engine and ask it to support OpenSearch so you can use it as the default search engine in Microsoft Edge.

Step three: Search from the address bar or a new tab page

Now you can type a search query in the Edge address bar and press Enter - it will automatically search the default search engine. Edge will make suggestions from it in the dropbox, assuming your search engine supports suggestions and you leave them enabled in the Edge settings.

This change also affects "Where next?" on the new tab page, giving you a way to easily search your favorite search engine.

To quickly search using keyboard shortcuts, press Ctrl + t to open a new tab page or Ctrl + L to focus the address bar on the current page and start typing the search.

Not surprisingly, this option does not affect anything outside of Microsoft Edge. When you perform a search from the Start menu or via Cortana and select Search the Web, Windows will search the web using Bing. Cortana is, after all, "powered by Bing". The above option applies only to searches that start from within Microsoft Edge.

As usual, this modifies only one browser settings. If you use Internet Explorer for older applications, you will need to change the search engine the old-fashioned way. Chrome, Firefox, and other browsers have their default search options.