diff --git a/app/builtin-pages/views/settings.js b/app/builtin-pages/views/settings.js
index 53507f5042..549c095519 100644
--- a/app/builtin-pages/views/settings.js
+++ b/app/builtin-pages/views/settings.js
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import * as toast from '../com/toast'
 import DatNetworkActivity from '../com/dat-network-activity'
 import renderBuiltinPagesNav from '../com/builtin-pages-nav'
 
+import {getAvailableSearchEngines} from '../../lib/search-engines'
+
 // globals
 // =
 
@@ -108,6 +110,7 @@ function renderGeneral () {
       ${renderAutoUpdater()}
       ${renderDefaultSyncPathSettings()}
       ${renderProtocolSettings()}
+      ${renderSearchEngineSettings()}
       ${renderOnStartupSettings()}
       ${renderDefaultDatIgnoreSettings()}
       ${renderAnalyticsSettings()}
@@ -278,6 +281,40 @@ function renderProtocolSettings () {
     </div>`
 }
 
+function renderSearchEngineSettings() {
+
+  function changeSearchEngine(engineName) {
+    beaker.browser.setSetting('search_engine', engineName)
+  }
+
+  // todo: default without hardcoding?
+  var currentSearchEngine = settings.search_engine || "DuckDuckGo";
+
+  var engines = getAvailableSearchEngines();
+
+  // todo: consider getting rid of that disgusting ternary :P
+  // also, style the select box?
+  return yo`
+    <div class="section default-browser">
+      <h2 id="search-section" class="subtitle-heading">Default Search Engine Settings</h2>
+
+      <p>
+        Use the following search engine to search
+      </p>
+
+      <select id="search-engine-chooser" onchange=${(event) => changeSearchEngine(event.target.value)}>
+        ${engines.map( engine => { return (engine == currentSearchEngine) ? yo`
+          <option selected>${engine}</option>
+        ` :
+        yo `<option>${engine}</option>`
+      }
+      )}
+      </select>
+
+
+    </div>`
+}
+
 function renderAutoUpdater () {
   if (!browserInfo.updater.isBrowserUpdatesSupported) {
     return yo`
diff --git a/app/builtin-pages/views/start.js b/app/builtin-pages/views/start.js
index 61d59df488..b5b3d6054b 100644
--- a/app/builtin-pages/views/start.js
+++ b/app/builtin-pages/views/start.js
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import * as toast from '../com/toast'
 import * as createArchivePopup from '../com/create-archive-popup'
 import {findParent, writeToClipboard} from '../../lib/fg/event-handlers'
 
+import {getSearchEngineOrDefault, getDefaultSearchEngine} from '../../lib/search-engines'
+
 const LATEST_VERSION = 7011 // semver where major*1mm and minor*1k; thus 3.2.1 = 3002001
 const RELEASE_NOTES_URL = 'https://beakerbrowser.com/releases/0-7-10/?updated=true'
 
@@ -142,15 +144,18 @@ async function onUpdateSearchQuery (q) {
     })
     searchResults = searchResults.concat(historyResults)
 
-    // add a DuckDuckGo search to the results
-    const ddgRes = {
+    var configuredSearchEngine = settings.search_engine;
+    var engine = getSearchEngineOrDefault(configuredSearchEngine);
+
+    // add a search result search to the results
+    const searchResult = {
       title: query,
-      targetUrl: `https://duckduckgo.com?q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}`,
+      targetUrl: engine.makeQueryUrl(query),
       icon: 'fa fa-search',
-      label: 'Search DuckDuckGo',
+      label: 'Search ' + engine.name,
       class: 'ddg'
     }
-    searchResults.push(ddgRes)
+    searchResults.push(searchResult)
   }
 
   update()
diff --git a/app/lib/search-engines.js b/app/lib/search-engines.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c8d7b5dd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/lib/search-engines.js
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+
+// TODO: autoCompleteCallback takes a string, calls the search engine autocomplete API,
+// and gives back a result / some results so that we can show a result (or results) as
+// the user types in the address bar? Maybe in a separate pull request...
+
+var searchEngines = [
+  {
+    name: "DuckDuckGo",
+    makeQueryUrl: (text) => `https://duckduckgo.com?q=${encodeURIComponent(text)}`,
+    autoCompleteCallback: (searchStr, cb) => {}
+  },
+  {
+    name: "Google",
+    makeQueryUrl: (text) => `https://google.com/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(text)}`,
+    autoCompleteCallback: (searchStr, cb) => {}
+  }
+]
+
+export function getDefaultSearchEngine() {
+  return searchEngines[0];
+}
+
+export function getAvailableSearchEngines() {
+  return searchEngines.map(engine => engine.name)
+}
+
+export function getSearchEngineOrDefault(name) {
+  if (!name) {
+    return getDefaultSearchEngine();
+  } else {
+    return searchEngines.find( engine => engine.name === name ) || getDefaultSearchEngine();  
+  }
+}
diff --git a/app/shell-window/ui/navbar.js b/app/shell-window/ui/navbar.js
index 640741859d..d6f482f368 100644
--- a/app/shell-window/ui/navbar.js
+++ b/app/shell-window/ui/navbar.js
@@ -469,6 +469,8 @@ async function handleAutocompleteSearch (results) {
 
   // set the top results accordingly
   var gotoResult = { url: vWithProtocol, title: 'Go to ' + v, isGuessingTheScheme }
+
+  // todo: how do we get the search settings from here?
   var searchResult = {
     search: v,
     title: 'DuckDuckGo Search',
@@ -518,6 +520,8 @@ function examineLocationInput (v) {
       isGuessingTheScheme = true // note that we're guessing so that, if this fails, we can try http://
     }
   }
+
+  // todo: how do we get the search settings from here?
   var vSearch = 'https://duckduckgo.com/?q=' + v.split(' ').map(encodeURIComponent).join('+')
   return {vWithProtocol, vSearch, isProbablyUrl, isGuessingTheScheme}
 }
@@ -878,4 +882,4 @@ function onContextMenu (e) {
     page.navbarEl.querySelector('.nav-location-input').blur()
     page.loadURL(url)
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}