How I configure Google Search on the browser

One of the first things I do when I install a fresh version of a Web Browser, is change the Default Search Engine to DuckDuckGo. I have been slowly moving towards owning my digital data, and have joined the de-Google movement. Unfortunatelly, sometimes I have to use Google for search.

The following is how I configure Brave Browser to use google.de instead of google.com. I use google.de because of the E.U Privacy Rules.

Set Search Engine in Settings

• Launch Brave Browser
• Open the Menu
• Navigate to Settings -> Search Engines
• Click on Manage Search Engines

Manage Search Engines

After clicking on Manage Search Engines, you’ll be presented with a large list of available search engines. What I usually do is set DuckDuckGo as my Default Search Engine, I also Remove the current configuration for Google.

Next, I add a new version of Google.

Adding Search Engines

• Click on the Add button.
  • Search Engine: Google
  • Keyword: google
  • URL: https://www.google.de/search?q=%s&hl=en
• Click on the Add button.

the hl=en is the piece that tells Google to use English as the home language.

Testing

Now you should be able to type google and hit Space or Tab and type your search phrase. When you hit Enter you should be taken to the Google results page in google.de.

Conclusion

I have been working on de-Googling my life, but sometimes I end up using Google to search for something (e.g Animated Gifs), but since I care about privacy, I end up removing the default Google setup on the browser and replacing it with a version that uses the European version of Google. This allows me to use Google with a little extra privacy. It is not perfect, but it puts my mind at ease.