Change Default Google Search in Chrome to International Version

The Google Search from the Google Chrome address bar is extremely efficient and has in sorts of ways defined the modern web browsers. But a problem that remains unsolved is that the Default Chrome Google Search is always localized, i.e. it directly searches the localized version of Google search depending on the country you are located it, for example google.co.in if you reside in India, or google.co.jp if you are in Japan. Google does not provide any options to change the Default Chrome Google Search. But there is a workaround.

This small guide will help you through:

Step 1: Right click in the Chrome Address Bar and select Edit Search Engines from the list.

Alternatively, click on the wrench icon  , select Options and then select Manage Search Engines from the Options window.

Step 2: Scroll down, and you will find a similar box to Add a new search engine:

In older versions of Chrome, select Add… from the Search Engines window.

Step 3: In the ‘Add a new search engine’ box enter Google or whatever name you want. Similarly in the ‘keyword’ box enter Google or any other word. This doesn’t affect the search.

Step 4: Now finally, the most important part is to enter the following in the third –‘URL with %s in place of query’ box:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%s

Step 5: Press Enter. Now hover the mouse on the newly added search engine and click on Make default.

Note: This tutorial can be used to change the default Chrome Search to localized versions as well. Just change the .com in http://www.google.com/search?q=%s used in Step 4 to .co.xx or .xx depending on the country you are located in, for example for Google India use http://www.google.co.in/search?q=%s.

Similarly you can make Google Custom Search the default search too. Just search for something (preferably any single word) using the custom parameters, and replace the search word in the URL with %s. Use this URL in Step 4.

If you have other questions feel free to comment.