diff --git a/catalogue/search.pl b/catalogue/search.pl
index 69ec6c865c..8bd70fc893 100755
--- a/catalogue/search.pl
+++ b/catalogue/search.pl
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ my $cgi = CGI->new;
 my $template_name;
 my $template_type;
 my @params = $cgi->multi_param("limit");
-if ((@params>=1) || (defined $cgi->param("q")) || ($cgi->param('multibranchlimit')) || ($cgi->param('limit-yr')) ) {
+if ((@params>=1) || (defined $cgi->param("q") && $cgi->param("q") ne "" ) || ($cgi->param('multibranchlimit')) || ($cgi->param('limit-yr')) ) {
     $template_name = 'catalogue/results.tt';
     $template_type = 'results';
 }
diff --git a/opac/opac-search.pl b/opac/opac-search.pl
index e47e6f428b..b03b6d0fbe 100755
--- a/opac/opac-search.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-search.pl
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ my $format = $cgi->param("format") || '';
 if ($format =~ /(rss|atom|opensearchdescription)/) {
     $template_name = 'opac-opensearch.tt';
 }
-elsif ((@params>=1) || (defined $cgi->param("q")) || ($cgi->param('multibranchlimit')) || ($cgi->param('limit-yr')) || @searchCategories ) {
+elsif ((@params>=1) || (defined $cgi->param("q") && $cgi->param("q") ne "") || ($cgi->param('multibranchlimit')) || ($cgi->param('limit-yr')) || @searchCategories ) {
     $template_name = 'opac-results.tt';
 }
 else {