Technology Tales

Adventures & experiences in contemporary technology

Excluding Google trend suggestions from an address bar search in Firefox

15th August 2024

When it comes to learning what is happening in the world, I am more LOMO than FOMO. Thus, I do not appreciate anything that adds content that I did not request. Given the state of the world right now, there is a need to moderate one’s intake. When I found trending topics being added to Google search results from the Firefox address bar, I then sought a way of turning that off.

Excluding Google trend suggestions from an address bar search in Firefox

That involved navigating to about:preferences#search in the address bar (you can go to Settings > Search just as well). Once there, it was a matter of looking in the Search Suggestions section and clearing the checkbox for the Show trending search suggestions item. Naturally, this only applies if you choose Google as your default search engine; otherwise it should not apply. For me, the setting change did what was needed.

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