diff --git a/browser/app/profile/firefox.js b/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
index 05f42c9f3ff0..5ff5ef67724c 100644
--- a/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
+++ b/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
@@ -1251,6 +1251,14 @@ pref("browser.library.activity-stream.enabled", true);
 // The remote FxA root content URL for the Activity Stream firstrun page.
 pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.fxaccounts.endpoint", "https://accounts.firefox.com/");
 
+// The pref that controls if the search shortcuts experiment is on
+#ifdef EARLY_BETA_OR_EARLIER
+pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts", true);
+#else
+pref("browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts", false);
+#else
+#endif
+
 // Enable the DOM fullscreen API.
 pref("full-screen-api.enabled", true);
 
diff --git a/browser/components/newtab/lib/ActivityStream.jsm b/browser/components/newtab/lib/ActivityStream.jsm
index 11ebe0161c74..8dffb5b718be 100644
--- a/browser/components/newtab/lib/ActivityStream.jsm
+++ b/browser/components/newtab/lib/ActivityStream.jsm
@@ -167,10 +167,6 @@ const PREFS_CONFIG = new Map([
     title: "Experiment to remove tiles that are the same as the default search",
     value: true,
   }],
-  ["improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts", {
-    title: "Experiment to show special top sites that perform keyword searches",
-    value: UpdateUtils.getUpdateChannel(true) !== "release",
-  }],
   ["improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts.searchEngines", {
     title: "An ordered, comma-delimited list of search shortcuts that we should try and pin",
     // This pref is dynamic as the shortcuts vary depending on the region
diff --git a/browser/components/newtab/lib/PrefsFeed.jsm b/browser/components/newtab/lib/PrefsFeed.jsm
index 640fd9dc61c4..06ce30b08ce4 100644
--- a/browser/components/newtab/lib/PrefsFeed.jsm
+++ b/browser/components/newtab/lib/PrefsFeed.jsm
@@ -105,6 +105,13 @@ this.PrefsFeed = class PrefsFeed {
     values.fxa_endpoint = Services.prefs.getStringPref(
       "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.fxaccounts.endpoint", "https://accounts.firefox.com");
 
+    // Read the pref for search shortcuts top sites experiment from firefox.js and store it
+    // in our interal list of prefs to watch
+    let searchTopSiteExperimentPrefValue = Services.prefs.getBoolPref(
+      "browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts");
+    values["improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts"] = searchTopSiteExperimentPrefValue;
+    this._prefMap.set("improvesearch.topSiteSearchShortcuts", searchTopSiteExperimentPrefValue);
+
     // Set the initial state of all prefs in redux
     this.store.dispatch(ac.BroadcastToContent({type: at.PREFS_INITIAL_VALUES, data: values}));