It seemed to be the predominate preference, for years, to have a search engine as a home page, at least prior to the introduction of the omnibox.   Now it's far less "universal" than it used to be.

There is no right or wrong home page.  Whatever the user prefers is settable, and resettable at will.

I used to use my preferred search engine as my home page, but now I don't ever even use a home page, period.  Between the advent of the omnibox for entering a web address or my search, and that all browsers can be set to reopen "where you left off" (which I always do), if I have to exit my browser for any reason "my browsing world" reopens exactly as I left it when I next start up again.   And all of these things are user preferences, too.

The ability to configure things as you prefer them, as far as web browsers go, and even the Windows environment goes, really has never been easier.  It has, however, been more comprehensive for a number of seldom-changed settings in Windows which are no longer presented to the end user.
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 2004, Build 19041  

Always remember that computers are just glorified light bulbs - they rarely fail in continuous use and usually go pop when turned off and on.

        ~ Technician with the username Computer Bloke, on Technibble.com