diff --git a/catalogue/search.pl b/catalogue/search.pl
index d98c5adfdc..0b6fba641f 100755
--- a/catalogue/search.pl
+++ b/catalogue/search.pl
@@ -337,7 +337,8 @@ my $params = $cgi->Vars;
 # sort by is used to sort the query
 # in theory can have more than one but generally there's just one
 my @sort_by;
-my $default_sort_by = C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField')."_".C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder');
+my $default_sort_by = C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField')."_".C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder') 
+	if (C4::Context->preference('defaultSortField') && C4::Context->preference('defaultSortOrder'));
 
 @sort_by = split("\0",$params->{'sort_by'}) if $params->{'sort_by'};
 $sort_by[0] = $default_sort_by unless $sort_by[0];
diff --git a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc
index 315d382c7f..fcbfb76350 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc
+++ b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<option value="">Relevance</option>
+<option value="relevance">Relevance</option>
 <optgroup label="Popularity">
 <option value="popularity_dsc" <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="popularity_dsc" -->selected="selected" <!-- /TMPL_IF -->>Popularity (Most to Least)</option>
 <option value="popularity_asc" <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="popularity_asc" -->selected="selected" <!-- /TMPL_IF -->>Popularity (Least to Most)</option>
diff --git a/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc b/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc
index 315d382c7f..fcbfb76350 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc
+++ b/koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/prog/en/includes/resort_form.inc
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<option value="">Relevance</option>
+<option value="relevance">Relevance</option>
 <optgroup label="Popularity">
 <option value="popularity_dsc" <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="popularity_dsc" -->selected="selected" <!-- /TMPL_IF -->>Popularity (Most to Least)</option>
 <option value="popularity_asc" <!-- TMPL_IF NAME="popularity_asc" -->selected="selected" <!-- /TMPL_IF -->>Popularity (Least to Most)</option>
diff --git a/opac/opac-search.pl b/opac/opac-search.pl
index 044b2a0091..7b50134094 100755
--- a/opac/opac-search.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-search.pl
@@ -335,8 +335,12 @@ my $params = $cgi->Vars;
 # Params that can have more than one value
 # sort by is used to sort the query
 # in theory can have more than one but generally there's just one
+my $default_sort_by = C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField')."_".C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder') 
+    if (C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortField') && C4::Context->preference('OPACdefaultSortOrder'));
+
 my @sort_by;
 @sort_by = split("\0",$params->{'sort_by'}) if $params->{'sort_by'};
+$sort_by[0] = $default_sort_by unless $sort_by[0];
 foreach my $sort (@sort_by) {
 	$template->param($sort => 1);
 }