diff --git a/lib/check_search.rb b/lib/check_search.rb
index 96e7445b3..41e07e7fe 100644
--- a/lib/check_search.rb
+++ b/lib/check_search.rb
@@ -58,13 +58,14 @@ def initialize(options, file = nil, team_id = Team.current&.id)
 
   def adjust_keyword_filter
     unless @options['keyword'].blank?
-      # This regex removes all characters except letters, numbers, hashtag and whitespace in any language - stripping out special characters can improve match results
-      @options['keyword'].gsub!(/[^[:word:]\s#]/, ' ')
+      # This regex removes all characters except letters, numbers, hashtag, search operators, emojis and whitespace
+      # in any language - stripping out special characters can improve match results
+      @options['keyword'].gsub!(/[^[:word:]\s#~+-|()"\u{1F600}-\u{1F64F}\u{1F300}-\u{1F5FF}\u{1F680}-\u{1F6FF}\u{1F700}-\u{1F77F}\u{1F780}-\u{1F7FF}\u{1F800}-\u{1F8FF}\u{1F900}-\u{1F9FF}\u{1FA00}-\u{1FA6F}\u{1F1E6}-\u{1F1FF}\u{2600}-\u{26FF}\u{2700}-\u{27BF}]/, ' ')
 
       # Set fuzzy matching for keyword search, right now with automatic Levenshtein Edit Distance
       # https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/query-dsl-simple-query-string-query.html
       # https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/23366
-      @options['keyword'] = "#{@options['keyword']}~" if !@options['keyword'].blank? && @options['fuzzy']
+      @options['keyword'] = "#{@options['keyword']}~" if @options['fuzzy']
     end
   end