diff --git a/internal/form/photo_search_test.go b/internal/form/photo_search_test.go
index 6ae148947..904e8cfb0 100644
--- a/internal/form/photo_search_test.go
+++ b/internal/form/photo_search_test.go
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func TestParseQueryString(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Equal(t, float32(33.45343), form.Lat)
 	})
 	t.Run("valid query 2", func(t *testing.T) {
-		form := &PhotoSearch{Query: "chroma:200 title:\"test\" after:2018-01-15 favorite:true lng:33.45343166666667"}
+		form := &PhotoSearch{Query: "chroma:200 title:\"te:st\" after:2018-01-15 favorite:true lng:33.45343166666667"}
 
 		err := form.ParseQueryString()
 
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func TestParseQueryString(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 
 		assert.Equal(t, uint8(200), form.Chroma)
-		assert.Equal(t, "test", form.Title)
+		assert.Equal(t, "te:st", form.Title)
 		assert.Equal(t, time.Date(2018, 01, 15, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC), form.After)
 		assert.Equal(t, float32(33.45343), form.Lng)
 	})
diff --git a/internal/form/serialize.go b/internal/form/serialize.go
index a317500bb..e4ba9763c 100644
--- a/internal/form/serialize.go
+++ b/internal/form/serialize.go
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ func Unserialize(f SearchForm, q string) (result error) {
 			isKeyValue = false
 			key = key[:0]
 			value = value[:0]
-		} else if char == ':' {
+		} else if char == ':' && !escaped {
 			isKeyValue = true
 		} else if char == '"' {
 			escaped = !escaped