How to make Google Chrome search using google.com rather than google.com.hk?

Question

I don't know how Google determines my location; it automatically switches to use google.com.hk. Both google.cn and google.com.hk are inaccessible to me in China, so I want to ensure I always use google.com as the default search site.

I've set the Google language to English, but it doesn't seem to work.

I've also added a custom search rule in Chrome: http://www.google.com/?q=%s as default - however, this will open the google.com starting page whose search input box is filled with the keywords, but is waiting to be clicked to show the search result.

Answer 1

Change the default search engine base URL from google.com.hk to google.com in Chrome's Settings (available from Wrench -> Options Basics -> Manage Search Engines). Alternatively you could type chrome://settings/searchEngines in the omnibar to reach that destination.

Answer 2

First do as in the other answer and go to the Search Engines editor. The quickest way is to Right-click on the Search Bar.

You cannot, however edit the default "google.com.xx" entry since the URL part is grayed out. It looks like this:

{google:baseURL}search?{google:RLZ}{google:acceptedSuggestion}{google:originalQueryForSuggestion}{google:searchFieldtrialParameter}{google:instantFieldTrialGroupParameter}sourceid=chrome&ie={inputEncoding}&q=%s

What you can do is to create a new entry below, call it "My Google" or something, give it any keyword, and enter as the URL string the same string, substituting the {google:baseURL} part with google.com or whichever domain of Google you want.

www.google.com/search?{google:RLZ}{google:acceptedSuggestion}{google:originalQueryForSuggestion}{google:searchFieldtrialParameter}{google:instantFieldTrialGroupParameter}sourceid=chrome&ie={inputEncoding}&q=%s

Then mouse over it, and hit "Make Default".

(Google changes this every so often on Chrome, so you probably want to grab the latest on the original/built-in search entry, and just update the google:baseURL part).

Answer 3

Click on the following link to disable Google country specific redirection. Do NOT click the link if you don't want it disabled, as you will have to delete your Google cookies to re-enable it.

http://www.google.com/ncr