How to Make Google Your Homepage in Safari on a Mac

To make Google your homepage in Safari on a Mac, choose Safari > Settings > General, type https://www.google.com in the Homepage field, then set New windows open with and New tabs open with to Homepage. Safari opens Google whenever you start a new window or tab.

These steps cover Safari on macOS 27 and earlier versions of macOS. On older Macs the menu item is called Preferences instead of Settings; the fields have the same names. Safari on iPhone and iPad has no homepage setting (see the FAQ).

Homepage, Start Page, and Search Engine

Three Safari settings sound alike, and mixing them up is the most common reason this change seems not to work:

Setting	What it controls	Where it lives
Homepage	The page Safari loads when a window or tab is set to open with Homepage, or when you go Home	Settings > General
Start Page	Apple’s page of Favorites, suggestions, and other sections	Default for new windows and tabs
Search engine	Where searches typed in the address bar go	Settings > Search

Setting Google as the homepage doesn’t change your search engine, and changing the search engine doesn’t change your homepage. Most people who want “Google in Safari” set both.

How to Make Google Your Homepage in Safari on Mac

1. Open Safari on your Mac.
2. Choose Safari > Settings from the menu bar, or press Command + comma. The settings window opens.
3. Click General at the top of the window if it isn’t already selected.
4. Click in the Homepage field, delete the old address, and type https://www.google.com. If Google is already open in the front tab, you can click Set to Current Page instead.
5. Click the New windows open with pop-up menu and choose Homepage.
6. Click the New tabs open with pop-up menu and choose Homepage if you want new tabs to open Google too.
7. Close the settings window. If Safari asks you to confirm with a Change Homepage button, click it.

Apple’s Change your homepage in Safari on Mac guide documents these fields, and Google’s Make Google your homepage page gives the same Safari route.

Check That It Worked

Press Command + N to open a new window. Google should load. If you also changed new tabs, press Command + T and check the new tab. If you still see the Start Page, go back to step 5 or 6, because the address alone doesn’t change what new windows and tabs show.

Choose When the Homepage Opens

The two pop-up menus work independently, so you can set Google for one and keep something else for the other. Apple’s General settings reference lists these options:

• New windows open with: Start Page, Homepage, Empty Page, Same Page, Tabs for Favorites, or a tabs folder you choose.
• New tabs open with: Start Page, Homepage, Empty Page, or Same Page.

A common setup is Google for new windows and the Start Page for new tabs, so your Favorites are one click away in a tab. For any other site, use the same fields and follow the steps for changing your homepage in Safari on a Mac.

Open Google When Safari Starts

What you see when you first open Safari depends on a third menu, Safari opens with, at the top of the General pane. Choose A new window if you want Safari to start on Google. If it’s set to reopen all windows from your last session, Safari restores those pages instead and skips the homepage.

If you don’t see the session options, Apple notes that some appear only when Close windows when quitting an application is turned on in System Settings > Desktop & Dock.

How to Go to Your Homepage Quickly

• Choose History > Home in the menu bar.
• Press Shift + Command + H, the shortcut in Apple’s Safari keyboard shortcuts list.
• Add a Home button: choose View > Customize Toolbar, drag the Home button (a small house) onto the toolbar, and click Done. Clicking the house opens Google.

On a laptop trackpad, learn how to right-click on a MacBook Air with a two-finger click or Control-click.

Want Google Search Instead?

A homepage only controls the first page you see. Searches typed in the address bar (Apple calls it the Smart Search field) go to Safari’s search engine, which is a separate setting in Apple’s Search settings guide.

1. Choose Safari > Settings, then click Search.
2. Click the Search engine menu and choose Google.
3. Set Private Browsing search engine to Google if you want private windows to search Google too.

New searches go to Google right away.

Switch Back to the Start Page

To undo the change, return to Safari > Settings > General and set New windows open with and New tabs open with back to Start Page. You can leave Google in the Homepage field; it only appears when one of those menus is set to Homepage or you go Home.

Troubleshooting

• The Start Page still appears: the menus are still set to Start Page. Change them to Homepage.
• Safari opens your last session: change Safari opens with to A new window.
• Google doesn’t load: check the address for typos and spaces. Clear the field and type https://www.google.com again.
• The homepage keeps changing: Google won’t change your homepage without your permission. If a different site keeps returning, open Safari > Settings > Extensions, turn off extensions you don’t recognize, and reset the homepage. If it still changes, check for unwanted programs (malware).
• A work or school Mac won’t let you change it: your organization may manage Safari settings. Ask your IT admin.

Frequently Asked Questions