Overview:
As a parent or educator, you may be interested in setting one of the Kid-friendly search websites as your default search engine in the browser(s) on your phone, tablet, or computer. Below I will outline in detail the steps to set up your browser(s) so that this is the primary search engine. The example I will use will be the Kiddle.co Kid-friendly search engine.
In Chrome
The following steps are for setting Kiddle as the default search engine in the Chrome browser, on a desktop computer. Setting the default search engine applies only to the current install of Chrome on the computer you are on when you define the settings. This does not carry overt o other devices.
These same steps can be used to set the default search engine to any other kid-friendly search engine available on the internet. You will need to know the URL search query for each search engine. This is the third data element on the “Add Search Engine” screen shown below.
The following reviews contain the third parameter for each of the following search engines:
Settings
Open Chrome on your computer and click on the vertical ellipsis (this is the three dots stacked on top of each other) in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
This drops down the configuration menu for Chrome. Near the bottom of the menu select the “Settings” option.
Once you select “Settings” a menu will appear on the left side of the screen. Select the “Search Engine” option from the menu on the left side.
Once you click on the “Search Engine” on the left side of the screen you will see the search option menu in the middle of the screen. There will be two groups of settings. The first will be the “Search Engine Used in the Address Bar”. There is a drop-down that will allow you to select the search engine that will process your search entered in the main address bar of the Chrome browser. Click on that drop-down which will show you the options you currently have available to select as the default for your browser.
Search Engine Settings
That drop-down will show you the search engines that can be currently set as the default. If Kiddle is an option, then select it. If not, then continue with the instructions.
Adding a Search Engine
The second option on this screen is the “Manage Search Engines” option. You will see a small arrow pointing to the right. Click on the arrow to produce the screen below. This may be a shortlist or a very long list depending on your browsing history. If you want to search the list of available search engines you can use the search feature in the upper right hand corner of the search setting area (green arrow). If you don’t find the one you are looking for, you will have to add it to the list. To add a new search engine, click the “Add” button (red arrow).
Upon clicking the “Add” button, you will be presented with the following screen to add a new search engine. Fill in the fields as depicted in the following image. Here are the actual values:
- Search Engine – “Kiddle”
- Keyword = “Kiddle.co” – notice this is not “.com”
- URL with %s in place of query – “https://www.kiddle.co/s.php?q=%s” – Copy the exact text without the quotation marks for Kiddle.
Setting the Default Search Engine
Once you have filled in the required information, click the “Add” button to add it to the list. This will add the Kiddle search engine to the list of possible search engines. Your screen should have the following entry for Kiddle. You may have many other search engines as well. If you only want to see the Kiddle option, enter Kiddle into the search area (green arrow in the above screen).
In order to now make it your default search engine, click on the vertical ellipsis to the right of the Kiddle entry in the “Other Search Engines” list. You will see the menu appear as shown below.
Select “Make Default” from the drop down menu that appears.
Trying It Out
The Kiddle search engine should now appear in the top section of your screen ender “Default Search Engines” (red arrow). If you want to make sure that your selected default is in place, click the left-facing arrow next to “Manage search engines” as shown above (green arrow).
Now, if you open a new tab or a new window you will notice in the search bar of your Chrome browser the red Kiddle icon.
Type your search term such as “dogs” into the search bar at the top of the page. Because Kiddle is now the default search engine, the browser will send the search terms to Kiddle for execution and the results will be from the Kiddle search engine. This means that Google SafeSearch will be used and the Kiddle filters will be applied using Google Custom Search. The results returned to your browser will have come from Kiddle through all the kid-friendly search processes as shown below.
About the Author:
Terry has been an entrepreneur in the IT industry for over 30 years. Go here to read his complete personal story, “Husband, father, Grandfather and IT Executive.” If you want to send Terry a quick message visit the contact page Here.
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