diff --git a/Userland/Applications/Browser/CMakeLists.txt b/Userland/Applications/Browser/CMakeLists.txt
index 69a5a1bf753..b9a7b0def7f 100644
--- a/Userland/Applications/Browser/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Userland/Applications/Browser/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -41,5 +41,5 @@ set(GENERATED_SOURCES
 )
 
 serenity_app(Browser ICON app-browser)
-target_link_libraries(Browser PRIVATE LibCore LibFileSystem LibWebView LibWeb LibProtocol LibGUI LibDesktop LibConfig LibGfx LibIPC LibJS LibLocale LibMain LibSyntax LibSQL)
+target_link_libraries(Browser PRIVATE LibCore LibFileSystem LibWebView LibWeb LibProtocol LibPublicSuffix LibGUI LibDesktop LibConfig LibGfx LibIPC LibJS LibLocale LibMain LibSyntax LibSQL)
 link_with_locale_data(Browser)
diff --git a/Userland/Applications/Browser/Tab.cpp b/Userland/Applications/Browser/Tab.cpp
index 3aa09536a40..d06dc3e1136 100644
--- a/Userland/Applications/Browser/Tab.cpp
+++ b/Userland/Applications/Browser/Tab.cpp
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include <LibGUI/Toolbar.h>
 #include <LibGUI/ToolbarContainer.h>
 #include <LibGUI/Window.h>
+#include <LibPublicSuffix/URL.h>
 #include <LibWeb/HTML/BrowsingContext.h>
 #include <LibWeb/HTML/SyntaxHighlighter/SyntaxHighlighter.h>
 #include <LibWeb/Layout/BlockContainer.h>
@@ -51,9 +52,6 @@ Tab::~Tab()
 
 URL url_from_user_input(DeprecatedString const& input)
 {
-    if (input.starts_with('?') && !g_search_engine.is_empty())
-        return URL(g_search_engine.replace("{}"sv, URL::percent_encode(input.substring_view(1)), ReplaceMode::FirstOnly));
-
     URL url_with_http_schema = URL(DeprecatedString::formatted("https://{}", input));
     if (url_with_http_schema.is_valid() && url_with_http_schema.port().has_value())
         return url_with_http_schema;
@@ -169,7 +167,7 @@ Tab::Tab(BrowserWindow& window)
     toolbar.add_action(window.reload_action());
 
     m_location_box = toolbar.add<GUI::UrlBox>();
-    m_location_box->set_placeholder("Address"sv);
+    m_location_box->set_placeholder("Search or enter address"sv);
 
     m_location_box->on_return_pressed = [this] {
         auto url = url_from_location_bar();
@@ -647,11 +645,6 @@ void Tab::update_reset_zoom_button()
 
 Optional<URL> Tab::url_from_location_bar(MayAppendTLD may_append_tld)
 {
-    if (m_location_box->text().starts_with('?') && g_search_engine.is_empty()) {
-        GUI::MessageBox::show(&this->window(), "Select a search engine in the Settings menu before searching."sv, "No search engine selected"sv, GUI::MessageBox::Type::Information);
-        return {};
-    }
-
     DeprecatedString text = m_location_box->text();
 
     StringBuilder builder;
@@ -664,8 +657,17 @@ Optional<URL> Tab::url_from_location_bar(MayAppendTLD may_append_tld)
     }
     auto final_text = builder.to_deprecated_string();
 
-    auto url = url_from_user_input(final_text);
-    return url;
+    auto error_or_absolute_url = PublicSuffix::absolute_url(final_text);
+    if (error_or_absolute_url.is_error()) {
+        if (g_search_engine.is_empty()) {
+            GUI::MessageBox::show(&this->window(), "Select a search engine in the Settings menu before searching."sv, "No search engine selected"sv, GUI::MessageBox::Type::Information);
+            return {};
+        }
+
+        return URL(g_search_engine.replace("{}"sv, URL::percent_encode(final_text), ReplaceMode::FirstOnly));
+    }
+
+    return URL(error_or_absolute_url.release_value());
 }
 
 void Tab::load(const URL& url, LoadType load_type)
diff --git a/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/BrowserSettingsWidget.gml b/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/BrowserSettingsWidget.gml
index 71099ed048c..3823dc4d961 100644
--- a/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/BrowserSettingsWidget.gml
+++ b/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/BrowserSettingsWidget.gml
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@
             }
 
             @GUI::CheckBox {
-                text: "Search using '?' in the URL box"
+                text: "Search in the URL box"
                 name: "enable_search_engine_checkbox"
             }
         }
diff --git a/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/Defaults.h b/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/Defaults.h
index 38a92790e3c..8e3046ea9cf 100644
--- a/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/Defaults.h
+++ b/Userland/Applications/BrowserSettings/Defaults.h
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ namespace Browser {
 
 static constexpr StringView default_homepage_url = "file:///res/html/misc/welcome.html"sv;
 static constexpr StringView default_new_tab_url = "file:///res/html/misc/new-tab.html"sv;
-static constexpr StringView default_search_engine = ""sv;
+static constexpr StringView default_search_engine = "https://www.google.com/search?q={}"sv;
 static constexpr StringView default_color_scheme = "auto"sv;
 static constexpr bool default_enable_content_filters = true;
 static constexpr bool default_show_bookmarks_bar = true;