diff --git a/js/forum/src/components/discussions-search-results.js b/js/forum/src/components/discussions-search-results.js
index ab6bed8dc..bf698439c 100644
--- a/js/forum/src/components/discussions-search-results.js
+++ b/js/forum/src/components/discussions-search-results.js
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export default class DiscussionsSearchResults {
         return m('li.discussion-search-result', {'data-index': 'discussions'+discussion.id()},
           m('a', { href: app.route.discussion(discussion, post && post.number()), config: m.route },
             m('div.title', highlight(discussion.title(), string)),
-            post ? m('div.excerpt', highlight(truncate(post.contentPlain(), 100), string)) : ''
+            post ? m('div.excerpt', highlight(post.contentPlain(), string, 100)) : ''
           )
         );
       }) : ''
diff --git a/js/lib/helpers/highlight.js b/js/lib/helpers/highlight.js
index f01f5ba7e..75cd5fd20 100644
--- a/js/lib/helpers/highlight.js
+++ b/js/lib/helpers/highlight.js
@@ -1,13 +1,21 @@
-export default function(string, regexp) {
-  if (!regexp) {
+import truncate from '../utils/truncate';
+
+export default function(string, phrase, length) {
+  if (!phrase) {
     return string;
   }
 
-  if (!(regexp instanceof RegExp)) {
-    regexp = new RegExp(regexp, 'gi');
+  const regexp = regexp instanceof RegExp ? phrase : new RegExp(phrase, 'gi');
+
+  let highlightedString = string;
+  let start = 0;
+
+  if (length) {
+    start = Math.max(0, string.search(regexp) - length / 2);
+    highlightedString = truncate(highlightedString, length, start);
   }
 
-  return m.trust(
-    $('<div/>').text(string).html().replace(regexp, '<mark>$&</mark>')
-  );
+  highlightedString = $('<div/>').text(highlightedString).html().replace(regexp, '<mark>$&</mark>');
+
+  return m.trust(highlightedString);
 }
diff --git a/js/lib/utils/truncate.js b/js/lib/utils/truncate.js
index 2acd77df0..c96ed70e6 100644
--- a/js/lib/utils/truncate.js
+++ b/js/lib/utils/truncate.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
-export default function truncate(string, length, start) {
-  start = start || 0;
-  string = string || '';
-
-  return (start > 0 ? '...' : '')+string.substring(start, start + length)+(string.length > start + length ? '...' : '');
+export default function truncate(string = '', length, start = 0) {
+  return (start > 0 ? '...' : '') +
+    string.substring(start, start + length) +
+    (string.length > start + length ? '...' : '');
 }