Let’s be honest. Most of us open Chrome and just stare at that default grid of "shortcuts" that Google thinks we want, but usually, it's just a graveyard of sites we visited once three months ago. You want a specific page to load the second you click that icon. You want control.
How do you make a homepage on Google Chrome without losing your mind in the settings menu? It’s actually a two-part answer because Google treats the "Home button" and the "Startup page" as two different things. Most people get these mixed up. They set the home button but then wonder why the browser still opens to a blank search bar every morning. We’re going to fix both.
The Difference Between Startup and Home (And Why It Matters)
Chrome is a bit picky. There is a "Home" button—that little house icon next to your address bar—and then there is the "Startup" behavior. If you want a specific site to pop up the moment you launch the browser, you’re looking for the Startup settings. If you just want a quick escape hatch to return to a specific site while browsing, you want the Home button.
Think of it like this. The Startup page is your front door. The Home button is a "panic button" on your remote control that takes you back to channel one.
To get started, look at the top right corner of your browser. See those three vertical dots? Click them. Head down to Settings. This is where the magic happens. On the left-hand sidebar, you’ll see a section labeled On startup. Click that first. This is the most common thing people actually want when they ask how to make a homepage. You’ll see three choices: Open the New Tab page, Continue where you left off, or Open a specific page or set of pages.
Pick the third one. Click "Add a new page," type in your URL—maybe it's your work email, a news site, or a project dashboard—and hit add. Now, every time you turn on your computer and click Chrome, that site is just there. No typing required.
Enabling the Actual Home Button
Some people don't see the house icon at all. It’s hidden by default on many versions of Chrome now. To bring it back, stay in that Settings tab but click on Appearance in the left menu. There’s a toggle there that says "Show home button." Flip it to on.
Once you flip that switch, a new option appears right below it. You can choose to have the home button open the "New Tab page" (which is just the Google search bar) or you can enter a custom web address. If you’re a power user, you might set your Startup page to your email but your Home button to a calendar or a task manager like Notion. It's about workflow.
Why Your Homepage Might Keep Changing (The Malware Problem)
Have you ever set your homepage, only to find it's been replaced by some weird search engine you've never heard of? It happens. This isn't usually a Chrome "glitch." It’s often a sign of a "browser hijacker."
According to cybersecurity researchers at Malwarebytes, these are small pieces of software—often bundled with free downloads—that force your browser to point toward ad-heavy search engines. It’s annoying. It’s also a privacy risk. If your settings won't "stick," you need to check your extensions. Click those three dots again, go to Extensions, then Manage Extensions. If you see something you don't recognize, kill it. Remove it immediately.
Customizing the "New Tab" Page Instead
Maybe you don't want a specific website. Maybe you just want the default Google page to look less depressing.
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Chrome added a "Customize Chrome" button in the bottom right corner of the New Tab page. It’s small. Easy to miss. If you click it, you can change the theme, the colors, and most importantly, how shortcuts work. You can tell Chrome to hide shortcuts entirely if you want a clean, minimalist look. Or you can set it to show your "most visited" sites.
Actually, the "most visited" algorithm is kind of hit-or-miss. Sometimes it suggests things you’d rather not have staring at you every time you open a tab in a meeting. You can manually curate those shortcuts by hovering over them and clicking the "Edit shortcut" pencil icon.
Syncing Your Homepage Across Devices
If you’re logged into a Google account, your settings usually follow you. But not always. Chrome on Android and iPhone handles homepages differently. On mobile, you typically don't have a "Home" button in the same way. However, you can add any website to your phone's home screen, which basically turns that site into its own app icon.
On your phone, navigate to the site you want. Tap the three dots (Android) or the Share icon (iOS). Look for Add to Home Screen. Now you have a direct link that bypasses the browser’s "start" page entirely.
Advanced Tactics: The Multiple Homepage Trick
Did you know you can have five homepages? Well, five startup pages.
In that On startup menu we talked about earlier, you aren't limited to one URL. You can click "Add a new page" over and over. If you’re a researcher or a student, you might want your university library, your Google Drive, and your citation manager to all open simultaneously.
Be careful, though. Every page you add makes Chrome take a little bit longer to start up. If you have an older laptop with limited RAM, opening ten tabs at once might make your fan sound like a jet engine. Keep it lean. Two or three is usually the sweet spot for productivity without the lag.
Addressing the "Managed by Your Organization" Message
If you’re on a work computer and you can't change the homepage, you’re probably seeing a message that says "Managed by your organization." This means your IT department has locked the settings via a Group Policy.
In this case, you can't bypass it through the normal settings menu. You’re stuck with whatever portal they’ve chosen. One workaround? Use the Bookmarks Bar (Ctrl+Shift+B). It’s not a homepage, but it’s a single-click access point that stays visible no matter what the IT department does to your startup settings.
Getting Into Google Discover
If you are a creator or a business owner asking "how do you make a homepage on Google Chrome" because you want your site to be the one people choose, you need to understand Google Discover.
Discover isn't just a homepage; it’s the feed that appears on the Google app and the Chrome mobile homepage. Getting your site there isn't about a setting in the browser—it's about content quality. Use high-resolution images (at least 1200px wide). Write titles that avoid clickbait but generate genuine curiosity. Google’s own documentation emphasizes E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
If your site provides a great mobile experience and has a clear "Home" structure, users are more likely to manually add it as their own homepage.
Speeding Up Your Chrome Experience
A heavy homepage can slow you down. If you set a site like YouTube or a heavy news site with auto-playing videos as your homepage, Chrome will feel sluggish.
For the fastest experience, use a "lite" version of a site if it exists. Or stick to the default New Tab page and use the Bookmarks Bar for your heavy lifting. It’s all about the balance between convenience and performance. Chrome is a resource hog by nature; don't give it more reasons to eat your memory.
Final Steps for a Clean Setup
Go into your settings right now. Decide if you want a "fresh start" every time or if you want to pick up where you left off. Most people find "Continue where you left off" to be a lifesaver, but it can be a privacy nightmare if you share your computer.
If you want the specific page route:
- Open Settings.
- Go to On startup.
- Select Open a specific page.
- Enter the URL.
- Go to Appearance.
- Toggle Show home button.
- Set that URL again.
This ensures that whether you launch the app or just get lost in twenty tabs, your "base of operations" is always one click away. It takes thirty seconds to do and saves you hours of typing URLs over the course of a year.
Make sure you actually test it. Close Chrome entirely. Kill the process in your task manager if you have to. Then reopen it. If your chosen site pops up instantly, you've done it right. If not, check for conflicting extensions or "Search Engine" settings in the menu that might be overriding your choices. Sometimes the "Search engine used in the address bar" setting can interfere with how the New Tab page behaves, so make sure that's set to Google (or your preferred engine like DuckDuckGo) to keep things consistent.
Now you have a browser that works for you, rather than you working for the browser.
Next Steps for Optimization
- Audit your extensions: Remove anything that looks like a "Search Protector" or "Free PDF Converter," as these often override homepage settings.
- Organize Bookmarks: Press
Ctrl+Don your favorite sites and put them in the "Bookmarks Bar" folder for immediate access below the address bar. - Update Chrome: Ensure you are on the latest version by going to Help > About Google Chrome to ensure all appearance toggles are available.