How to Change Chrome's Search Engine (and Undo a Hijack)

How do you change Chrome's default search engine?

Open Chrome's search engine settings, choose an engine from the list or add one, and Chrome switches immediately, no restart needed. The setting lives in the same place on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

1. Click the three-dot menu, then Settings (or go straight to chrome://settings/searchEngines).
2. Under Search engine, find the Search engine used in the address bar dropdown.
3. Select your preferred engine, such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo, from the list.
4. Close the settings tab; the new engine applies to every search you type in the address bar from that point on.

This applies per Chrome profile. If you use more than one profile, or a separate work and personal profile, you need to repeat the change in each one. Google's own help article on managing search engines covers site-search and shortcut options in more detail.

How do you add a custom search engine to Chrome?

Add any site with its own search box as a custom engine, then trigger it with a keyboard shortcut you set, all from the same settings page.

1. Go to chrome://settings/searchEngines.
2. Next to Site search, click Add.
3. Enter a Search engine name, a Shortcut (the letters you'll type before pressing Tab), and the site's search URL with %s where the query goes.
4. Click Add to save it.
5. In the address bar, type your shortcut, press Tab, then type your search term and press Enter.

Chrome also adds entries here automatically the first time you use a site's own search box, so sites you already search often may already be listed without you doing anything.

Why does Chrome's search engine keep switching back on its own?

If your chosen search engine reverts every time you restart Chrome, or your address bar starts returning ad-heavy results from an unfamiliar engine, an extension is resetting the setting each time Chrome loads.

• Your homepage or new tab page changed to a search page you didn't set.
• Searches redirect through an extra domain before showing results.
• The default search engine option is greyed out or reverts within seconds of changing it.
• You don't recognize an entry in chrome://extensions that you didn't knowingly install.

How do you find which extension changed your search engine?

Open chrome://extensions, and disable extensions one at a time, starting with anything you don't remember installing or that arrived bundled with another program.

1. Go to chrome://extensions.
2. Look for anything unfamiliar, or anything installed around the time the problem started.
3. Toggle it off, then reopen Settings and set your search engine again.
4. Restart Chrome and check whether the setting held.
5. Repeat with the next suspect if it reverted again.

View Chrome History can help you line up when the redirects started against your browsing timeline, which is useful since Chrome's own History page doesn't show extension install dates directly. If you also want to clear old activity while you investigate, see how to clear your browsing history in Chrome.

How do you remove an extension that hijacked your search engine?

Removing it is different from disabling it. Disabling stops it from running; removing deletes it and its settings for good, which is what you want once you've confirmed it's the cause.

1. Go to chrome://extensions.
2. Find the confirmed extension and click Remove.
3. Confirm the removal in the pop-up.
4. Go back to chrome://settings/searchEngines and set your default search engine again.
5. Restart Chrome to confirm it now stays put.

How do you tell a legitimate extension from one that hijacks search settings?

Check what it asks for on install. An extension that only needs access to one site is a much smaller risk than one that requests access to all your data on every site but has nothing to do with browsing or search.

Before installing anything new that touches search, skim its permissions on the permissions guide and check it against our review approach. A search-adjacent extension asking for broad host permissions it doesn't need is the pattern to be cautious about, and worth browsing the security & privacy category for safer alternatives.

What should you do after removing a search-hijacking extension?

Clean up beyond just the extension. Check your other browser settings for lingering changes, and treat the incident as a reason to tighten account security, especially if you're not sure how the extension got installed.

• Reset the search engine again and confirm the new tab page and homepage also match what you expect.
• Check chrome://settings/content/all for any site permissions the extension may have set on domains you didn't visit.
• Clear cookies for any unfamiliar redirect domain you noticed, using a tool like EditThisCookie V3 if you want to inspect them before deleting.
• If the extension had broad permissions, change or update your saved password and turn on 2-Step Verification with an app like Authenticator App for an extra layer.
• Check Chrome sync (chrome://settings/syncSetup) so the same settings don't reappear on another signed-in device.

Is changing the search engine different on Android, iPhone, or a Chromebook?

The setting exists everywhere Chrome runs, but the menu path and how much control you get shifts by platform.

Extensions only run on Chrome for Windows, Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS. If a hijack shows up on your Android phone too, the change most likely came from Chrome sync carrying it over rather than a mobile extension, since Chrome for Android and iOS don't support extensions.