diff --git a/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/knowledge-explorer-search.js.es6 b/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/knowledge-explorer-search.js.es6
index 9b3bb63..6d46a3c 100644
--- a/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/knowledge-explorer-search.js.es6
+++ b/assets/javascripts/discourse/components/knowledge-explorer-search.js.es6
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import knowledgeExplorer from "discourse/plugins/discourse-knowledge-explorer/discourse/models/knowledge-explorer";
+
 export default Ember.Component.extend({
   classNames: "knowledge-explorer-search",
 
@@ -7,9 +9,10 @@ export default Ember.Component.extend({
       return;
     }
 
-    // set search filters
-
     // query the search api
+    knowledgeExplorer.search(this.get("filteredTags"), term).then(result => {
+      this.set("searchResults", result.topics || []);
+    });
   },
 
   actions: {
diff --git a/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/knowledge-explorer.js.es6 b/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/knowledge-explorer.js.es6
index 01640ed..9caec65 100644
--- a/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/knowledge-explorer.js.es6
+++ b/assets/javascripts/discourse/controllers/knowledge-explorer.js.es6
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-import { observes } from "ember-addons/ember-computed-decorators";
+import {
+  default as computed,
+  observes
+} from "ember-addons/ember-computed-decorators";
 
 function arrayContainsArray(superset, subset) {
   if (0 === subset.length) {
@@ -20,6 +23,19 @@ export default Ember.Controller.extend({
   filteredTags: null,
   filteredTopics: null,
 
+  searchTerm: null,
+  searchResults: null,
+
+  @computed("searchResults")
+  hasSearchResults(results) {
+    return !!results;
+  },
+
+  @computed("searchResults")
+  emptySearchResults(results) {
+    return results.length === 0;
+  },
+
   @observes("filterTags")
   filterByTags() {
     const filterTags = this.get("filterTags");
diff --git a/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/knowledge-explorer.js.es6 b/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/knowledge-explorer.js.es6
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3f722b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/javascripts/discourse/models/knowledge-explorer.js.es6
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import { ajax } from "discourse/lib/ajax";
+
+export default {
+  search(tags, filter) {
+    if (tags) {
+      return ajax(
+        `/search.json?q=in:kb tags:${tags.replace(/ /g, "+")} ${filter}`
+      );
+    } else {
+      return ajax(`/search.json?q=in:kb ${filter}`);
+    }
+  }
+};
diff --git a/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/knowledge-explorer.hbs b/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/knowledge-explorer.hbs
index 525fb73..a4831c8 100644
--- a/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/knowledge-explorer.hbs
+++ b/assets/javascripts/discourse/templates/knowledge-explorer.hbs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <div class="knowledge-explorer">
   <div class="knowledge-explorer-filter">
-    {{knowledge-explorer-search searchResults=searchResults searchTerm=searchTerm}}
+    {{knowledge-explorer-search searchResults=searchResults searchTerm=searchTerm filteredTags=filteredTags}}
   </div>
   <div class="knowledge-explorer-browse">
     {{#if filteredTags}}
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@
       {{else}}
         <div class="no-result">No results match the current filter</div>
       {{/if}}
+    {{else if hasSearchResults}}
+      {{#if emptySearchResults}}
+        {<div class="no-result">{i18n 'search.no_results'}}</div>
+      {{else}}
+        <div>{{i18n "knowledge_explorer.search.results" count=count}}</div>
+        {{knowledge-explorer-topic-list topics=searchResults}}
+      {{/if}}
     {{else}}
       {{knowledge-explorer-topic-list topics=topics}}
     {{/if}}
diff --git a/config/locales/client.en.yml b/config/locales/client.en.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32fd3f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/locales/client.en.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+en:
+  js:
+    knowledge_explorer:
+      search:
+        results: 
+          one: "%{count} result found"
+          other: "%{count} results found"