Users of the Google Chrome web browser use the address bar itself instead of an additional search bar to perform a search. Firefox can be modified to act exactly the same with a configuration tweak.

Type about:config in Firefox’s address bar. Next to Filter type keyword. You will see this:

The keyword.URL Preference is the one you want to modify, but before we can do that, we’ll need a new value to put in there.

Keep this tab open and follow the examples below to modify it.

Note: If you mess up, don’t worry. You can reset keyword.URL back to default simply by right-clicking it and left-clicking Reset, which will reset it back to its default value.

Google search

1. Double-click keyword.URL to modify it. A small window will pop up.
2. Delete the current line that’s in there.
3. Replace with http://www.google.com/search?q=
4. Open a new tab, type this is a test in the address bar and press Enter to test the search.

Google search with 20 results per page instead of 10

A standard Google search shows 10 results per page. Using this will show 20.

Follow steps 1 and 2 above.

Replace the line with http://www.google.com/search?num=20&q=

Open a new tab, type this is a test and press Enter in the address bar to test the search.

Note: If you want to use a value other than 20, go ahead. In the above line, look for num=20 and change 20 to any number between 1 and 100. The value you choose is how many results per page you will get when using a Google search in this fashion.

Yahoo! Search

Follow steps 1 and 2 above.

Replace the line with http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=

Open a new tab, type this is a test in the address bar and press Enter to test the search.

Bing Search

Follow steps 1 and 2 above.

Replace the line with http://www.bing.com/search?q=

Open a new tab, type this is a test in the address bar and press Enter to test the search.

Does this affect the search bar in Firefox?

No. Using the address bar keyword search is independent of the search bar. Modifying keyword.URL does not modify any search engines you may have installed for Firefox.

Can I turn off the address bar keyword search function in Firefox completely?

Yes. In about:config, modify the Preference keyword.enabled. By default it is set to true. Double-clicking it will set to false and disable it entirely.

I like using the address bar to search and want to get of the search bar. How do I do it?

This is somewhat tricky if you haven’t done this before, but this is the easiest way I know how to do it.

Click View, Toolbars, Customize.

You’ll see something similar to this:

Physically click and drag the search bar from outside this window into this window. This will remove it from view. Once finished, click Done.

If you screw up, simply click the Restore Default Set button (seen in the screen shot above).

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