How To Add Google Encrypted Search Engine To Firefox, Opera, Chrome And Internet Explorer

Martin Brinkmann
Jun 26, 2010
Updated • Aug 30, 2015
Internet
|
22

Update: It is no longer necessary to add encrypted search to the browser as Google defaults to it now.

Jojo just asked in the thread about Google's new encrypted search engine if it was possible to add that search engine to the list in the Firefox search bar.

The following article explains how to add Google encrypted search, or any other search engine for that matter, to the list of standard search engine providers in the web browsers Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Opera.

Google's encrypted search engine is located at https://encrypted.google.com/. It is likely that this address changes in the future as Google is currently evaluating options to offer the server at the default Google search domain again.

Opera

Let's start with the browser that is the easiest to configure: Opera. Visit the encrypted Google Search homepage and right-click the search form on the web page.

opera add search engine

A form pops up after selection. Opera fills out most of the relevant entries. Only a keyword for the search engine can be added by you if you want. Some advanced options are available including making the search engine the default search engine in Opera.

opera search engine

The new search engine is then directly available in the Opera search bar and by using the keyword and a search phrase in the main address bar.

Sidenote: If you are interested in understanding keyword searches take a look at Search And Access Sites Faster With Keywords which explains how they can be configured and used in all major web browsers that are supporting them.

Google Chrome

Adding the encrypted Google web search engine to Google Chrome is slightly more complex. Google Chrome does not come with a search bar, everything is handled in the address bar.

Go to the encrypted Google search engine and perform a search. Copy the search url.

A right-click on the address bar and the selection of Edit Search Engines opens the menu where search engines can be edited, deleted and added to the Chrome browser. You can load chrome://settings/searchEngines alternatively directly.

google chrome search engine

Click on the Add button to add a new search engine to Chrome.

chrome add search engine

All three files that are displayed need to be filled out. The name and keyword can be selected freely, the url needs to be pasted into the url field.

Locate the search phrase in the url and replace it with %s. Click OK and select to make the search engine the default in Google Chrome. Just use this url if you are in a hurry or have problems editing it.

https://encrypted.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=%s&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Update: Chrome does not display an add button anymore. You need to scroll all the way down to find forms to add a new browser there. It does seem to pick up most search engines that you have used at least once automatically though.

Internet Explorer

Update: The method described below does not work anymore. You can add Google Search directly to Internet Explorer by visiting this site instead.

The next browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Open Google's encrypted search engine and search for TEST (all uppercase). Copy the url of the search results.

https://encrypted.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=TEST&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=93d2185ddb201fc

Now open the Create Search Providers website and paste the copied url into the URL field. Select a name and click the Install Search Provider button to add the search engine to Internet Explorer.

internet explorer search provider
internet explorer search provider

This launches a confirmation window. Clicking the Add button will add the new search engine to the list of supported search providers. It is furthermore possible to make that search engine the default search engine in Internet Explorer.

internet explorer search
internet explorer search

Firefox

Firefox, finally. The easiest way to add search providers in Firefox is with the Firefox addon Add to Search Bar. Install the add-on, and open the Google HTTPs web search page.

Right-click the search form and select Add to Search Bar.

firefox search bar

This opens a basic form where the name, keyword and icon can be selected.

add engine to search bar
add engine to search bar

It might be necessary to switch the search engine provider in the search bar as the last step.

Know of a faster or better way to add search providers? Let us know in the comments.

Summary
How To Add Google Encrypted Search Engine To Firefox, Opera, Chrome And Internet Explorer
Article Name
How To Add Google Encrypted Search Engine To Firefox, Opera, Chrome And Internet Explorer
Description
Find out how to add new search engines to the Internet browsers Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer.
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Comments

  1. ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
    Reply

    Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on August 4, 2012 at 7:57 pm
      Reply

      Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.

    2. Leonidas Burton said on September 4, 2023 at 4:51 am
      Reply

      I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
      http://www.google.com/saved

  2. VioletMoon said on August 16, 2023 at 5:26 pm
    Reply

    @Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!

  3. Karl said on August 17, 2023 at 10:36 pm
    Reply

    @Martin

    The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
    https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/

    Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.

  4. Anonymous said on August 25, 2023 at 11:44 am
    Reply

    Omg a badge!!!
    Some tangible reward lmao.

    It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.

  5. Scroogled said on August 25, 2023 at 10:57 pm
    Reply

    With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.

    1. lollmaoeven said on August 27, 2023 at 6:24 am
      Reply

      This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)

  6. El Duderino said on August 25, 2023 at 11:14 pm
    Reply

    Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.

    And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.

  7. John G. said on August 26, 2023 at 1:29 am
    Reply

    First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[

  8. Kalmly said on August 26, 2023 at 4:42 pm
    Reply

    Yes. Please. Fix the comments.

  9. Kim Schmidt said on September 3, 2023 at 3:42 pm
    Reply

    With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.

    Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.

    The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.

    If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.

    And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.

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