diff --git a/searx/autocomplete.py b/searx/autocomplete.py
index e9cdc8ba9..828e85e42 100644
--- a/searx/autocomplete.py
+++ b/searx/autocomplete.py
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
 from lxml import etree
 from requests import get
 from json import loads
+from urllib import urlencode
 
 
 def dbpedia(query):
     # dbpedia autocompleter
-    autocomplete_url = 'http://lookup.dbpedia.org/api/search.asmx/KeywordSearch?QueryString={q}'  # noqa
+    autocomplete_url = 'http://lookup.dbpedia.org/api/search.asmx/KeywordSearch?'  # noqa
 
-    response = get(autocomplete_url.format(q=query))
+    response = get(autocomplete_url
+                   + urlencode(dict(QueryString=query)))
 
     results = []
 
@@ -21,14 +23,15 @@ def dbpedia(query):
 
 def google(query):
     # google autocompleter
-    autocomplete_url = 'http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?client=toolbar&q={q}'  # noqa
+    autocomplete_url = 'http://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?client=toolbar&'  # noqa
 
-    response = get(autocomplete_url.format(q=query))
+    response = get(autocomplete_url
+                   + urlencode(dict(q=query)))
 
     results = []
 
     if response.ok:
-        dom = etree.fromstring(response.content)
+        dom = etree.fromstring(response.text)
         results = dom.xpath('//suggestion/@data')
 
     return results
@@ -36,9 +39,9 @@ def google(query):
 
 def wikipedia(query):
     # wikipedia autocompleter
-    url = 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch&search={q}&limit=10&namespace=0&format=json'  # noqa
+    url = 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=opensearch&{0}&limit=10&namespace=0&format=json'  # noqa
 
-    resp = loads(get(url.format(q=query)).text)
+    resp = loads(get(url.format(urlencode(dict(q=query)))).text)
     return resp[1]
 
 
diff --git a/searx/webapp.py b/searx/webapp.py
index 1058d9e65..156ef4745 100644
--- a/searx/webapp.py
+++ b/searx/webapp.py
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ def autocompleter():
         request_data = request.args
 
     # TODO fix XSS-vulnerability
-    query = request_data.get('q')
+    query = request_data.get('q', '').encode('utf-8')
 
     if not query:
         return
@@ -262,11 +262,7 @@ def autocompleter():
     if not completer:
         return
 
-    try:
-        results = completer(query)
-    except Exception, e:
-        print e
-        results = []
+    results = completer(query)
 
     if request_data.get('format') == 'x-suggestions':
         return Response(json.dumps([query, results]),