diff --git a/aio/src/app/app.component.html b/aio/src/app/app.component.html
index 52ce34ba0f..7aef453b5e 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/app.component.html
+++ b/aio/src/app/app.component.html
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   </button>
   <a class="nav-link home" href="/"><img src="{{ homeImageUrl }}" title="Home" alt="Home"></a>
   <aio-top-menu *ngIf="isSideBySide" [nodes]="topMenuNodes"></aio-top-menu>
-  <aio-search-box class="search-container" #searchBox (search)="doSearch($event)"></aio-search-box>
+  <aio-search-box class="search-container" #searchBox (onSearch)="doSearch($event)"></aio-search-box>
 </md-toolbar>
 <aio-search-results #searchResults *ngIf="showSearchResults" (resultSelected)="hideSearchResults()"></aio-search-results>
 
diff --git a/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.spec.ts b/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.spec.ts
index c8c9618544..075b0278a1 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.spec.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.spec.ts
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ import { LocationService } from 'app/shared/location.service';
 import { MockLocationService } from 'testing/location.service';
 
 @Component({
-  template: '<aio-search-box (search)="doSearch($event)"></aio-search-box>'
+  template: '<aio-search-box (onSearch)="searchHandler($event)"></aio-search-box>'
 })
 class HostComponent {
-  doSearch = jasmine.createSpy('doSearch');
+  searchHandler = jasmine.createSpy('searchHandler');
 }
 
 describe('SearchBoxComponent', () => {
@@ -39,40 +39,61 @@ describe('SearchBoxComponent', () => {
       location.search.and.returnValue({ search: 'initial search' });
       component.ngOnInit();
       expect(location.search).toHaveBeenCalled();
-      expect(host.doSearch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('initial search');
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledWith('initial search');
       expect(component.searchBox.nativeElement.value).toEqual('initial search');
     }));
   });
 
   describe('on input', () => {
-    it('should trigger the search event', () => {
+    it('should trigger the onSearch event', () => {
       const input = fixture.debugElement.query(By.css('input'));
-      input.triggerEventHandler('input', { target: { value: 'some query' } });
-      expect(host.doSearch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query');
+      input.nativeElement.value = 'some query (input)';
+      input.triggerEventHandler('input', { });
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query (input)');
     });
   });
 
   describe('on keyup', () => {
-    it('should trigger the search event', () => {
+    it('should trigger the onSearch event', () => {
       const input = fixture.debugElement.query(By.css('input'));
-      input.triggerEventHandler('keyup', { target: { value: 'some query' } });
-      expect(host.doSearch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query');
+      input.nativeElement.value = 'some query (keyup)';
+      input.triggerEventHandler('keyup', { });
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query (keyup)');
     });
   });
 
   describe('on focus', () => {
-    it('should trigger the search event', () => {
+    it('should trigger the onSearch event', () => {
       const input = fixture.debugElement.query(By.css('input'));
-      input.triggerEventHandler('focus', { target: { value: 'some query' } });
-      expect(host.doSearch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query');
+      input.nativeElement.value = 'some query (focus)';
+      input.triggerEventHandler('focus', { });
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query (focus)');
     });
   });
 
   describe('on click', () => {
     it('should trigger the search event', () => {
       const input = fixture.debugElement.query(By.css('input'));
-      input.triggerEventHandler('click', { target: { value: 'some query'}});
-      expect(host.doSearch).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query');
+      input.nativeElement.value = 'some query (click)';
+      input.triggerEventHandler('click', { });
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledWith('some query (click)');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('event filtering', () => {
+    it('should only send events if the search value has changed', () => {
+      const input = fixture.debugElement.query(By.css('input'));
+
+      input.nativeElement.value = 'some query';
+      input.triggerEventHandler('input', { });
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+      input.triggerEventHandler('input', { });
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+
+      input.nativeElement.value = 'some other query';
+      input.triggerEventHandler('input', { });
+      expect(host.searchHandler).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.ts b/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.ts
index 5073d41906..3603ebf56a 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.ts
+++ b/aio/src/app/search/search-box/search-box.component.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { Component, OnInit, ViewChild, ElementRef, EventEmitter, Output } from '@angular/core';
 import { LocationService } from 'app/shared/location.service';
+import { Subject } from 'rxjs/Subject';
+import 'rxjs/add/operator/filter';
+import 'rxjs/add/operator/distinctUntilChanged';
 
 /**
  * This component provides a text box to type a search query that will be sent to the SearchService.
@@ -17,15 +20,19 @@ import { LocationService } from 'app/shared/location.service';
     type="search"
     aria-label="search"
     placeholder="Search"
-    (input)="onSearch($event.target.value)"
-    (keyup)="onSearch($event.target.value)"
-    (focus)="onSearch($event.target.value)"
-    (click)="onSearch($event.target.value)">`
+    (input)="doSearch()"
+    (keyup)="doSearch()"
+    (focus)="doSearch()"
+    (click)="doSearch()">`
 })
 export class SearchBoxComponent implements OnInit {
 
+  private searchSubject = new Subject<string>();
+
   @ViewChild('searchBox') searchBox: ElementRef;
-  @Output() search = new EventEmitter<string>();
+  @Output() onSearch = this.searchSubject
+                           .filter(value => !!(value && value.trim()))
+                           .distinctUntilChanged();
 
   constructor(private locationService: LocationService) { }
 
@@ -36,12 +43,12 @@ export class SearchBoxComponent implements OnInit {
     const query = this.locationService.search()['search'];
     if (query) {
       this.searchBox.nativeElement.value = query;
-      this.onSearch(query);
+      this.doSearch();
     }
   }
 
-  onSearch(query: string) {
-    this.search.emit(query);
+  doSearch() {
+    this.searchSubject.next(this.searchBox.nativeElement.value);
   }
 
   focus() {
diff --git a/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.js b/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.js
index ae00a13e07..ed4ea4c08e 100644
--- a/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.js
+++ b/aio/src/app/search/search-worker.js
@@ -6,21 +6,22 @@
 var SEARCH_TERMS_URL = '/generated/docs/app/search-data.json';
 
 // NOTE: This needs to be kept in sync with `ngsw-manifest.json`.
-importScripts('https://unpkg.com/lunr@0.7.2/lunr.min.js');
+importScripts('https://unpkg.com/lunr@2.1.0/lunr.js');
 
-var index = createIndex();
+var index;
 var pages = {};
 
 self.onmessage = handleMessage;
 
 // Create the lunr index - the docs should be an array of objects, each object containing
 // the path and search terms for a page
-function createIndex() {
+function createIndex(addFn) {
   return lunr(/** @this */function() {
     this.ref('path');
     this.field('titleWords', {boost: 50});
     this.field('members', {boost: 40});
     this.field('keywords', {boost: 20});
+    addFn(this);
   });
 }
 
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ function handleMessage(message) {
   switch(type) {
     case 'load-index':
       makeRequest(SEARCH_TERMS_URL, function(searchInfo) {
-        loadIndex(searchInfo);
+        index = createIndex(loadIndex(searchInfo));
         self.postMessage({type: type, id: id, payload: true});
       });
       break;
@@ -67,16 +68,29 @@ function makeRequest(url, callback) {
 
 // Create the search index from the searchInfo which contains the information about each page to be indexed
 function loadIndex(searchInfo) {
-  // Store the pages data to be used in mapping query results back to pages
-  // Add search terms from each page to the search index
-  searchInfo.forEach(function(page) {
-    index.add(page);
-    pages[page.path] = page;
-  });
+  return function(index) {
+    // Store the pages data to be used in mapping query results back to pages
+    // Add search terms from each page to the search index
+    searchInfo.forEach(function(page) {
+      index.add(page);
+      pages[page.path] = page;
+    });
+  };
 }
 
 // Query the index and return the processed results
 function queryIndex(query) {
+  // The index requires the query to be lowercase
+  var terms = query.toLowerCase().split(/\s+/);
+  var results = index.query(function(qb) {
+    terms.forEach(function(term) {
+      // Only include terms that are longer than 2 characters, if there is more than one term
+      // Add trailing wildcard to each term so that it will match more results
+      if (terms.length === 1 || term.trim().length > 2) {
+        qb.term(term, { wildcard: lunr.Query.wildcard.TRAILING });
+      }
+    });
+  });
   // Only return the array of paths to pages
-  return index.search(query).map(function(hit) { return pages[hit.ref]; });
+  return results.map(function(hit) { return pages[hit.ref]; });
 }