diff --git a/src/SearchServices/Parsers/AbstractSearchParser.php b/src/SearchServices/Parsers/AbstractSearchParser.php
index f3490a93..abd72543 100644
--- a/src/SearchServices/Parsers/AbstractSearchParser.php
+++ b/src/SearchServices/Parsers/AbstractSearchParser.php
@@ -136,7 +136,8 @@ abstract class AbstractSearchParser
 				$tokenText = substr($tokenText, 1);
 			}
 
-			if (strpos($tokenText, ':') !== false)
+			$colonPosition = strpos($tokenText, ':');
+			if ($colonPosition !== false and $colonPosition > 0)
 			{
 				$searchToken = new \Szurubooru\SearchServices\Tokens\NamedSearchToken();
 				list ($tokenKey, $tokenValue) = explode(':', $tokenText, 2);
diff --git a/src/Validator.php b/src/Validator.php
index b205d093..f6cdf7ba 100644
--- a/src/Validator.php
+++ b/src/Validator.php
@@ -93,9 +93,11 @@ class Validator
 		foreach ($tags as $tag)
 		{
 			if (empty($tag))
-			{
 				throw new \DomainException('Tags cannot be empty.');
-			}
+
+			//: causes problems with complex search (e.g. id:5).
+			if (strpos($tag, ':') > 0)
+				throw new \DomainException('Colon in tag may appear only at the beginning.');
 
 			$this->validateMaxLength($tag, 64, 'Tag');