Make Google Your Homepage in Chrome, Edge and Firefox

July 11, 2020 Matt Mills How to 0

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To make Google open automatically, change your browser’s startup setting to https://www.google.com/. To make the Home button open Google, change the homepage setting too. These are separate controls in Chrome and Edge.

If you want searches from the address bar to use Google instead of Bing or another service, change the default search engine as well. Changing only the homepage does not do that.

Set Google as home Page in Chrome, Firefox, Edge

Choose the setting you actually want to change

What you want Setting to look for
Google opens when you launch the browser Startup page or what opens when the browser starts
The Home button opens Google Homepage or Home button URL
Typing in the address bar searches Google Default search engine
A new tab shows Google New-tab behavior; a homepage change does not automatically change this

Make Google your homepage in Chrome

Open Google automatically when Chrome starts

  1. Open Chrome’s three-dot menu > Settings.
  2. Select On startup.
  3. Choose Open a specific page or set of pages.
  4. Select Add a new page, enter https://www.google.com/, and save it.
  5. Remove other startup entries if you want only Google to open.

Set the Chrome Home button

In Settings, open Appearance, turn on Show Home button, and select the custom web-address option. Enter https://www.google.com/.

Use Google for Chrome address-bar searches

Open Settings > Search engine and choose Google as the search engine used by the address bar. The layout may show a Change button before the list.

Google’s homepage and startup help explains why the Home button and startup page are separate.

Make Google your homepage in Microsoft Edge

  1. Open Edge’s three-dot menu > Settings.
  2. Select Start, home, and new tab page.
  3. Find the startup section, such as When Microsoft Edge starts.
  4. Choose the option to open specific pages, add https://www.google.com/, and save it.
  5. In the Home button section, turn on Show home button on the toolbar and set its URL to Google.

To replace Bing for address-bar searches, first visit Google and perform a search. Then open Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Search and connected services > Address bar and search. Choose Google in the search-engine menu. In some Edge versions, Address bar and search appears directly under Privacy, search, and services.

If Edge’s new-tab search box still uses Bing, look for Search on new tabs uses search box or address bar in the same settings and choose Address bar when that option is available. That changes where the search goes; it does not replace the entire new-tab page with google.com.

Microsoft has separate instructions for the Home button and the default search engine.

Make Google your homepage in Firefox

  1. Open Firefox’s menu > Settings.
  2. Choose Home or Home and startup, depending on the version.
  3. For the homepage or homepage-and-new-windows option, choose Custom URLs.
  4. Enter https://www.google.com/.
  5. If Firefox keeps restoring your old tabs, find Open previous windows and tabs in Settings and turn it off if you want your chosen homepage at startup.

For address-bar searches, open Settings > Search and select Google as the default search engine. Firefox‘s new-tab choice is separate and does not become a custom Google page just because you set a homepage. See Mozilla’s homepage instructions for the current labels.

Google is not opening, or the setting keeps changing

  • Old tabs appear: check session-restore settings. Our guide to saving and restoring Edge tabs explains that behavior.
  • Only the Home button works: set the startup page too, then close all browser windows and launch the browser again.
  • Searches still use Bing: change the search-engine setting separately from the homepage.
  • The page changes back: review recently installed extensions and remove or disable ones you do not recognize. Check the active profile as well.
  • The option is managed by your organization: a work or school policy may control it. Ask the administrator.

You can manage Edge extensions from Edge’s own Extensions menu. The older Windows Internet Options panel is not the place to change a modern Edge, Chrome or Firefox homepage.

If you prefer a different search provider, our Qwant privacy and setup guide explains its search and privacy choices. Changing a homepage and changing address-bar search are separate settings.

Common questions

Can a website automatically make Google my homepage?

A normal webpage should not silently change your browser settings. Use the browser’s own controls; you do not need to download a homepage installer.

Will Google open in every new tab?

Not from the homepage setting alone. The homepage, startup page and new-tab page can behave differently.

Why do the menu names look slightly different?

Browser updates can move controls or change labels. Search the browser’s Settings page for homepage, startup or search engine to reach the relevant control.