Microsoft Edge is one of the new applications introduced with Windows 10. Edge, a modern web browser from Microsoft developed for Windows 10, is not a rebranded version of Internet Explorer. While Edge browser’s logo looks very similar to Internet Explorer, Edge has been designed from scratch and is actually comparable to Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome in terms of speed.
While Internet Explorer has been retained in Windows 10, Microsoft Edge is the new default web browser. The Edge browser comes with several new and unique features to make your web experience even better. The ability to write on a webpage is one of the features that you can’t find in other web browsers, at least as of now. The feature allows you to take notes, write, and highlight directly on webpages.
The Reading view, Reading list, Hub, and tight-integration with digital personal assistant Cortana make Edge a feature-rich web browser. Needless to say, the Edge browser is easy-to-use on touch devices as well.
The default search engine in Edge
With default settings, as one would expect, Bing is the default search engine in Microsoft Edge and as well as the Cortana search box on the taskbar (see how to enable Google search in taskbar search). While Microsoft has been putting great effort to make Bing better, it’s still not as good as Google across all regions.
Those of you who have been using Microsoft Edge as your default web browser might want to make Google or any other search engine as your default search provider in the Edge browser. In order to change the default search engine in Edge, you need to complete the given below directions.
NOTE: Only search engines that support OpenSearch can be set as the default search engine in Edge. For those who are curious, Google supports OpenSearch now.
Change default search engine in Microsoft Edge
Step 1: Launch the Microsoft Edge browser. Click More actions button (…) and then click Settings to open the same.
Step 2: On the Settings pane, switch to the Advanced tab in the left pane. Scroll down the page to see the Address bar search section. Click the Change search provider button.
Step 3: Select the search engine you want to set as the default and then click Set as default button.
IMPORTANT: According to Microsoft, the list shows only those search providers who support the OpenSearch standard.
We will update this guide with more information once every search engine starts supporting OpenSearch. Do let us know if there is an alternative method to change the default search engine in the Edge browser.
Leonard says
I typed where the website would go and it went to google.
judith manning says
Cannot get rid of Bing followed all of the steps and
Google is not even listed
donna hurd says
I have set google as my default but bing is still the one that always comes up. I HATE bing and can’t get rid of it!!!
admin says
@ Rotiv
Sorry for wasting your time. But the problem is that Microsoft keeps updating Edge and other apps time to time and makes changes to the UI. So, it’s little hard at times to make sure that all guides are updated.
Anyways, we have now updated the guide for Windows 10 October 2018 (version 1809).
rotiv says
Thanks for wasting 5/10mins Reading this for nothing. Learn how to do things or stand still and don’t waste anybodies time.
Bob Hackney says
Tried half-a-dozen times to add DuckDuckGo – it never shows up in the “search address bar” list [now actually labeled “Change search engine”]. Only bing and google are available. Are these the only “OpenSearch” engines out there, or is Edge just banning all others?
Also, why is Edge constantly running on my computer? I don’t want it monitoring me!
I would appreciate an honest reply to these two questions, and thank you for your assistance.
Zeke says
There is no step 5. Everything looks exactly right but right below “Have Cortana assist me in Microsoft Edge” where it is supposed to be a search bar, well, there isn’t. I am on Google and followed the universal instructions and it looks like step 5 shows up for everyone else but nope, not me.
Eddie says
Hi Deb.
Was facing the same issue. The actual solution is to 1st open the website like google.com and wait for the page to load up. Then follow the steps mentioned above and you will have the option to set google as search engine. Hope this helps.
Deb says
When I go to advanced settings “Change Search Engine,” the only search engine is Bing and both “set as default” and “remove” are grayed out so I cannot do anything to get rid of Bing. I go to my Chrome page and Bing does not even show up as one of my search engines. How do I get rid of Bing? I don’t like it. No one does. That’s why the phrase is “Google it” and not “Bing it.”