diff --git a/src/applications/search/view/PhabricatorSearchResultView.php b/src/applications/search/view/PhabricatorSearchResultView.php
--- a/src/applications/search/view/PhabricatorSearchResultView.php
+++ b/src/applications/search/view/PhabricatorSearchResultView.php
@@ -76,33 +76,92 @@
       $link);
   }
 
+
+  /**
+   * Find the words which are part of the query string, and bold them in a
+   * result string. This makes it easier for users to see why a result
+   * matched their query.
+   */
   private function emboldenQuery($str) {
-    if (!$this->query) {
+    $query = $this->query->getParameter('query');
+
+    if (!strlen($query) || !strlen($str)) {
       return $str;
     }
 
-    $query = $this->query->getParameter('query');
+    // This algorithm is safe but not especially fast, so don't bother if
+    // we're dealing with a lot of data. This mostly prevents silly/malicious
+    // queries from doing anything bad.
+    if (strlen($query) + strlen($str) > 2048) {
+      return $str;
+    }
 
-    $quoted_regexp = '/"([^"]*)"/';
-    $matches = array(1 => array());
-    preg_match_all($quoted_regexp, $query, $matches);
-    $quoted_queries = $matches[1];
-    $query = preg_replace($quoted_regexp, '', $query);
-
-    $query = preg_split('/\s+[+|]?/u', $query);
-    $query = array_filter($query);
-    $query = array_merge($query, $quoted_queries);
-    $str = phutil_escape_html($str);
-    foreach ($query as $word) {
-      $word = phutil_escape_html($word);
-      $word = preg_quote($word, '/');
-      $word = preg_replace('/\\\\\*$/', '\w*', $word);
-      $str = preg_replace(
-        '/(?:^|\b)('.$word.')(?:\b|$)/i',
-        '<strong>\1</strong>',
-        $str);
+    // Keep track of which characters we're going to make bold. This is
+    // byte oriented, but we'll make sure we don't put a bold in the middle
+    // of a character later.
+    $bold = array_fill(0, strlen($str), false);
+
+    // Split the query into words.
+    $parts = preg_split('/ +/', $query);
+
+    // Find all occurrences of each word, and mark them to be emboldened.
+    foreach ($parts as $part) {
+      $part = trim($part);
+      $part = trim($part, '"+');
+      if (!strlen($part)) {
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      $matches = null;
+      $has_matches = preg_match_all(
+        '/(?:^|\b)('.preg_quote($part, '/').')/i',
+        $str,
+        $matches,
+        PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE);
+
+      if (!$has_matches) {
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      // Flag the matching part of the range for boldening.
+      foreach ($matches[1] as $match) {
+        $offset = $match[1];
+        for ($ii = 0; $ii < strlen($match[0]); $ii++) {
+          $bold[$offset + $ii] = true;
+        }
+      }
     }
-    return phutil_safe_html($str);
+
+    // Split the string into ranges, applying bold styling as required.
+    $out = array();
+    $buf = '';
+    $pos = 0;
+    $is_bold = false;
+    foreach (phutil_utf8v($str) as $chr) {
+      if ($bold[$pos] != $is_bold) {
+        if (strlen($buf)) {
+          if ($is_bold) {
+            $out[] = phutil_tag('strong', array(), $buf);
+          } else {
+            $out[] = $buf;
+          }
+          $buf = '';
+        }
+        $is_bold = !$is_bold;
+      }
+      $buf .= $chr;
+      $pos += strlen($chr);
+    }
+
+    if (strlen($buf)) {
+      if ($is_bold) {
+        $out[] = phutil_tag('strong', array(), $buf);
+      } else {
+        $out[] = $buf;
+      }
+    }
+
+    return $out;
   }
 
 }