diff --git a/app/services/search_indexer.rb b/app/services/search_indexer.rb
index ea1c1b8e89c..226b8a2843f 100644
--- a/app/services/search_indexer.rb
+++ b/app/services/search_indexer.rb
@@ -66,6 +66,28 @@ class SearchIndexer
 
     tsvector = "#{tsvector} #{additional_lexemes.join(" ")}"
 
+    if (max_dupes = SiteSetting.max_duplicate_search_index_terms) > 0
+      reduced = []
+      tsvector
+        .scan(/([^\:]+\:)(([0-9]+[A-D]?,?)+)/)
+        .each do |term, indexes|
+          family_counts = Hash.new(0)
+          new_index_array = []
+
+          indexes
+            .split(",")
+            .each do |index|
+              family = nil
+              family = index[-1] if index[-1].match?(/[A-D]/)
+              if (family_counts[family] += 1) <= max_dupes
+                new_index_array << index
+              end
+            end
+          reduced << "#{term.strip}#{new_index_array.join(",")}"
+        end
+      tsvector = reduced.join(" ")
+    end
+
     indexed_data =
       if table.to_s == "post"
         clean_post_raw_data!(search_data[:d])
diff --git a/config/site_settings.yml b/config/site_settings.yml
index 4d40276b7af..5b5acafaf29 100644
--- a/config/site_settings.yml
+++ b/config/site_settings.yml
@@ -2192,6 +2192,9 @@ backups:
     client: true
 
 search:
+  max_duplicate_search_index_terms:
+    default: -1
+    hidden: true
   use_pg_headlines_for_excerpt:
     default: false
     hidden: true
diff --git a/spec/lib/search_spec.rb b/spec/lib/search_spec.rb
index fdc91daad44..05c1f9b9870 100644
--- a/spec/lib/search_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/search_spec.rb
@@ -2602,4 +2602,34 @@ RSpec.describe Search do
       expect(result.categories.length).to eq(0)
     end
   end
+
+  context "when max_duplicate_search_index_terms limits duplication" do
+    before { SearchIndexer.enable }
+
+    after { SearchIndexer.disable }
+
+    it "correctly ranks topics" do
+      SiteSetting.max_duplicate_search_index_terms = 5
+
+      topic1 = Fabricate(:topic, title: "this is a topic about sam")
+      post1 = Fabricate(:post, topic: topic1, raw: "this topic is a story about some person")
+
+      topic2 = Fabricate(:topic, title: "this is a topic about bob")
+      post2 =
+        Fabricate(
+          :post,
+          topic: topic2,
+          raw: "this topic is a story about some person #{"sam " * 100}",
+        )
+
+      SearchIndexer.index(post1, force: true)
+      SearchIndexer.index(post2, force: true)
+
+      result = Search.execute("sam")
+      expect(result.posts.length).to eq(2)
+
+      # title match should win cause we limited duplication
+      expect(result.posts.pluck(:id)).to eq([post1.id, post2.id])
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/services/search_indexer_spec.rb b/spec/services/search_indexer_spec.rb
index de52cbb7228..1d892607f14 100644
--- a/spec/services/search_indexer_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/search_indexer_spec.rb
@@ -303,6 +303,20 @@ RSpec.describe SearchIndexer do
         "unca",
       )
     end
+
+    it "limits number of repeated terms when max_duplicate_search_index_terms site setting has been configured" do
+      SiteSetting.max_duplicate_search_index_terms = 5
+
+      contents = "I am #{"sam " * 10}"
+      post.update!(raw: contents)
+
+      post_search_data = post.post_search_data
+      post_search_data.reload
+
+      expect(post_search_data.search_data).to eq(
+        "'sam':12,13,14,15,16 'test':8A 'titl':4A 'uncategor':9B",
+      )
+    end
   end
 
   describe ".queue_post_reindex" do