diff --git a/app/models/topic.rb b/app/models/topic.rb
index de3034e3249..883a35c4651 100644
--- a/app/models/topic.rb
+++ b/app/models/topic.rb
@@ -581,9 +581,17 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
     return [] if title.blank?
     raw = raw.presence || ""
 
-    search_data = "#{title} #{raw[0...MAX_SIMILAR_BODY_LENGTH]}".strip
-    filter_words = Search.prepare_data(search_data)
-    ts_query = Search.ts_query(term: filter_words, joiner: "|")
+    title_tsquery = Search.set_tsquery_weight_filter(
+      Search.prepare_data(title.strip),
+      'A'
+    )
+
+    raw_tsquery =  Search.set_tsquery_weight_filter(
+      Search.prepare_data(raw[0...MAX_SIMILAR_BODY_LENGTH].strip),
+      'B'
+    )
+
+    tsquery = Search.to_tsquery(term: "#{title_tsquery} & #{raw_tsquery}", joiner: "|")
 
     candidates = Topic
       .visible
@@ -591,9 +599,9 @@ class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
       .secured(Guardian.new(user))
       .joins("JOIN topic_search_data s ON topics.id = s.topic_id")
       .joins("LEFT JOIN categories c ON topics.id = c.topic_id")
-      .where("search_data @@ #{ts_query}")
+      .where("search_data @@ #{tsquery}")
       .where("c.topic_id IS NULL")
-      .order("ts_rank(search_data, #{ts_query}) DESC")
+      .order("ts_rank(search_data, #{tsquery}) DESC")
       .limit(SiteSetting.max_similar_results * 3)
 
     candidate_ids = candidates.pluck(:id)
diff --git a/lib/search.rb b/lib/search.rb
index 02462cded77..ade1ee3dae0 100644
--- a/lib/search.rb
+++ b/lib/search.rb
@@ -1025,13 +1025,25 @@ class Search
   end
 
   def self.ts_query(term: , ts_config:  nil, joiner: nil, weight_filter: nil)
+    to_tsquery(
+      ts_config: ts_config,
+      term: set_tsquery_weight_filter(term, weight_filter),
+      joiner: joiner
+    )
+  end
+
+  def self.to_tsquery(ts_config: nil, term:, joiner: nil)
     ts_config = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.quote(ts_config) if ts_config
-    term = term.gsub("'", "''")
-    tsquery = "TO_TSQUERY(#{ts_config || default_ts_config}, '''#{PG::Connection.escape_string(term)}'':*#{weight_filter}')"
+    tsquery = "TO_TSQUERY(#{ts_config || default_ts_config}, '#{term}')"
     tsquery = "REPLACE(#{tsquery}::text, '&', '#{PG::Connection.escape_string(joiner)}')::tsquery" if joiner
     tsquery
   end
 
+  def self.set_tsquery_weight_filter(term, weight_filter)
+    term = term.gsub("'", "''")
+    "''#{PG::Connection.escape_string(term)}'':*#{weight_filter}"
+  end
+
   def ts_query(ts_config = nil, weight_filter: nil)
     @ts_query_cache ||= {}
     @ts_query_cache["#{ts_config || default_ts_config} #{@term} #{weight_filter}"] ||=
diff --git a/spec/models/topic_spec.rb b/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
index b8be9f34684..29af224906e 100644
--- a/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/topic_spec.rb
@@ -502,37 +502,46 @@ describe Topic do
     end
   end
 
-  context 'similar_to' do
+  context '.similar_to' do
+    fab!(:category) { Fabricate(:category_with_definition) }
 
-    it 'returns blank with nil params' do
-      expect(Topic.similar_to(nil, nil)).to be_blank
+    it 'returns an empty array with nil params' do
+      expect(Topic.similar_to(nil, nil)).to eq([])
     end
 
     context "with a category definition" do
-      let!(:category) { Fabricate(:category_with_definition) }
-
       it "excludes the category definition topic from similar_to" do
-        expect(Topic.similar_to('category definition for', "no body")).to be_blank
+        expect(Topic.similar_to('category definition for', "no body")).to eq([])
       end
     end
 
     context 'with a similar topic' do
-      let!(:topic) {
+      fab!(:post) {
         SearchIndexer.enable
-        post = create_post(title: "Evil trout is the dude who posted this topic")
-        post.topic
+        create_post(title: "Evil trout is the dude who posted this topic")
       }
 
+      let(:topic) { post.topic }
+
+      before do
+        SearchIndexer.enable
+      end
+
       it 'returns the similar topic if the title is similar' do
         expect(Topic.similar_to("has evil trout made any topics?", "i am wondering has evil trout made any topics?")).to eq([topic])
       end
 
-      context "secure categories" do
-        fab!(:category) { Fabricate(:category_with_definition, read_restricted: true) }
+      it 'matches title against title and raw against raw when searching for topics' do
+        topic.update!(title: '1 2 3 numbered titles')
+        post.update!(raw: 'random toy poodle')
 
+        expect(Topic.similar_to("unrelated term", "1 2 3 poddle")).to eq([])
+      end
+
+      context "secure categories" do
         before do
-          topic.category = category
-          topic.save
+          category.update!(read_restricted: true)
+          topic.update!(category: category)
         end
 
         it "doesn't return topics from private categories" do