This page shows how to configure your browser to use “safe” DuckDuckGo by default with the result that when you type something in the location bar and hit Enter, DuckDuckGo with safe searching is used by default.
This page is not meant to imply DuckDuckGo’s safe search is better than any other search engine; DuckDuckGo is used for illustrative purposes.
The following screenshots were taken using Chromium 85 on Linux (unfortunately Chromium and Google Chrome are no longer fully supported). See also browsers.
Your local version of Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, etc.) will have cosmetic differences but the steps are essentially the same.
First, visit chrome://settings/search .
Then, click “Search engine”.
A long list of search engine options should appear. Click “Add”.
A dialog should appear. Enter:
safe duckduckgo
ddg
https://safe.duckduckgo.com/q=%s
Find “safe duckduckgo” in the list of engines. Right click on the 3 dots. Click “Make default”.
Celebrate!
(note this image incorrectly shows “my safe duckduckgo” instead of “safe duckduckgo”. Oh well.
Enforcing safe search
Plucky v1.0.10+ has several features you can use to enforce safe searching and browsing.
Make sure to see the bottom of that page for how to block unsafe DuckDuckGo even if you don’t use the safe features.
Last updated: 2026-08-06