diff --git a/src/colab/custom_settings.py b/src/colab/custom_settings.py
index cf40c21..03b3ed0 100644
--- a/src/colab/custom_settings.py
+++ b/src/colab/custom_settings.py
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ LANGUAGES = (
 
 LANGUAGE_CODE = 'pt-br'
 
+
+# the following variable define how many characters should be shown before
+# a highlighted word, to make sure that the highlighted word will appear
+HIGHLIGHT_NUM_CHARS_BEFORE_MATCH = 30
 HAYSTACK_CUSTOM_HIGHLIGHTER = 'colab.utils.highlighting.ColabHighlighter'
 
 HAYSTACK_CONNECTIONS = {
diff --git a/src/colab/utils/highlighting.py b/src/colab/utils/highlighting.py
index f90f713..353d84b 100644
--- a/src/colab/utils/highlighting.py
+++ b/src/colab/utils/highlighting.py
@@ -1,6 +1,31 @@
 from haystack.utils import Highlighter
- 
- 
+from django.conf import settings
+
+
 class ColabHighlighter(Highlighter):
     def find_window(self, highlight_locations):
-        return (0, self.max_length)
+        """Getting the HIGHLIGHT_NUM_CHARS_BEFORE_MATCH setting
+        to find how many characters before the first word found should
+        be removed from the window
+        """
+
+        if len(self.text_block) <= self.max_length:
+            return (0, self.max_length)
+
+        num_chars_before = getattr(
+            settings,
+            'HIGHLIGHT_NUM_CHARS_BEFORE_MATCH',
+            0
+        )
+
+        best_start, best_end = super(ColabHighlighter, self).find_window(
+            highlight_locations
+        )
+        if best_start <= num_chars_before:
+            best_end -= best_start
+            best_start = 0
+        else:
+            best_start -= num_chars_before
+            best_end -= num_chars_before
+
+        return (best_start, best_end)
diff --git a/src/templates/search/preview-search.html b/src/templates/search/preview-search.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..179ccf1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/templates/search/preview-search.html
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{% load i18n %}
+{% load highlight %}
+
+<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-{{ result.icon_name }}" title="{{ result.type }}"></span>
+
+{% if result.mailinglist_url %}
+  <a href="{{ result.mailinglist_url }}">
+{% else %}
+  <a href="{{ result.url }}" {% if result.description %}title="{{ result.description|escape }}"{% endif %}>
+{% endif %}
+  {% if result.tag %}
+    <span class="label label-primary">{{ result.tag }}</span>
+  {% endif %}
+{% if result.mailinglist_url %}
+  </a>
+{% endif %}
+
+  {% if result.title %}
+    <span class="subject">
+      <!-- a striptags filter was raising an error here because using with highlight -->
+      {% highlight result.title with query max_length "1000" %}
+    </span>
+  {% endif %}
+{% if not result.mailinglist_url %}
+  </a>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if result.description %}
+      <!-- a striptags filter was raising an error here because using with highlight -->
+  <span class="quiet">- {% highlight result.description with query max_length "150" %}</span>
+{% endif %}
diff --git a/src/templates/search/search-ticket-preview.html b/src/templates/search/search-ticket-preview.html
index e286b53..eade62b 100644
--- a/src/templates/search/search-ticket-preview.html
+++ b/src/templates/search/search-ticket-preview.html
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {% load i18n %}
+{% load highlight %}
 
 <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-tag" title="{{ result.type }}"></span>
 
@@ -12,4 +13,4 @@
   </a>
 </span>
 
-<span class="quiet">- {{ result.description|striptags|truncatechars:150 }}</span>
+<span class="quiet">- {% highlight result.description with query max_length "150" %}</span>
diff --git a/src/templates/search/search.html b/src/templates/search/search.html
index 410de96..160b26c 100644
--- a/src/templates/search/search.html
+++ b/src/templates/search/search.html
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 {% extends "base.html" %}
 {% load i18n %}
 {% load append_to_get %}
+{% load highlight %}
+
 {% block main-content %}
   <div class="row">
     <div class="col-lg-2">
@@ -47,23 +49,13 @@
       <ul class="none indent list-unstyled">
       {% for result in page.object_list  %}
         <li class="preview-message">
-          {% if result.model_name == 'message' %}
-            {% include "search/search-message-preview.html" %}
-          {% elif result.model_name == 'user' %}
-            {% include "search/search-user-preview.html" %}
-          {% elif result.model_name == 'wiki' %}
-            {% include "search/search-wiki-preview.html" %}
-          {% elif result.model_name == 'revision' %}
-            {% include "search/search-revision-preview.html" %}
-          {% elif result.model_name == 'ticket' %}
-            {% include "search/search-ticket-preview.html" %}
-          {% endif %}
+          {% include "search/preview-search.html" %}
 
           {% if result.author %}
             <div class="quiet">
               <span class="pull-left">{% trans "by" %}
                 {% if result.author and result.author_url %}
-                  <a href="{{ result.author_url }}">{{ result.author }}</a>
+                  <a href="{{ result.author_url }}">{% highlight result.author with query %}</a>
                 {% else %}
                   <span>{{ result.author }}</span>
                 {% endif %}
--
libgit2 0.21.2