diff --git a/app/controllers/search.js b/app/controllers/search.js
index b666880eba3..7558f097661 100644
--- a/app/controllers/search.js
+++ b/app/controllers/search.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { restartableTask } from 'ember-concurrency';
 import { bool, reads } from 'macro-decorators';
 
 import { pagination } from '../utils/pagination';
+import { CATEGORY_PREFIX, processSearchQuery } from '../utils/search';
 
 export default class SearchController extends Controller {
   @service store;
@@ -48,6 +49,11 @@ export default class SearchController extends Controller {
 
   @bool('totalItems') hasItems;
 
+  get hasMultiCategoryFilter() {
+    let tokens = this.q.trim().split(/\s+/);
+    return tokens.filter(token => token.startsWith(CATEGORY_PREFIX)).length > 1;
+  }
+
   @action fetchData() {
     this.dataTask.perform().catch(() => {
       // we ignore errors here because they are handled in the template already
@@ -61,6 +67,10 @@ export default class SearchController extends Controller {
       q = q.trim();
     }
 
-    return yield this.store.query('crate', { all_keywords, page, per_page, q, sort });
+    let searchOptions = all_keywords
+      ? { page, per_page, sort, q, all_keywords }
+      : { page, per_page, sort, ...processSearchQuery(q) };
+
+    return yield this.store.query('crate', searchOptions);
   }
 }
diff --git a/app/styles/application.module.css b/app/styles/application.module.css
index cb85369db02..86a5acf81ae 100644
--- a/app/styles/application.module.css
+++ b/app/styles/application.module.css
@@ -6,6 +6,18 @@
     --grey200: hsl(200, 17%, 96%);
     --green800: hsl(115, 31%, 31%);
     --green900: hsl(115, 31%, 21%);
+
+    --orange-50: #fff7ed;
+    --orange-100: #ffedd5;
+    --orange-200: #fed7aa;
+    --orange-300: #fdba74;
+    --orange-400: #fb923c;
+    --orange-500: #f97316;
+    --orange-600: #ea580c;
+    --orange-700: #c2410c;
+    --orange-800: #9a3412;
+    --orange-900: #7c2d12;
+
     --yellow500: hsl(44, 100%, 60%);
     --yellow700: hsl(44, 67%, 50%);
 
diff --git a/app/styles/search.module.css b/app/styles/search.module.css
index 84c5d76e6be..2c3df955803 100644
--- a/app/styles/search.module.css
+++ b/app/styles/search.module.css
@@ -5,6 +5,15 @@
     margin-bottom: 25px;
 }
 
+.warning {
+    margin: 0 0 16px;
+    padding: 8px;
+    color: var(--orange-700);
+    background: var(--orange-100);
+    border-left: solid var(--orange-400) 4px;
+    border-radius: 2px;
+}
+
 .sort-by-label {
     composes: small from './shared/typography.module.css';
 }
diff --git a/app/templates/search.hbs b/app/templates/search.hbs
index 349d52764a1..c371a7311ae 100644
--- a/app/templates/search.hbs
+++ b/app/templates/search.hbs
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@
   data-test-header
 />
 
+{{#if this.hasMultiCategoryFilter}}
+  <div local-class="warning">
+    Support for using multiple <code>category:</code> filters is not yet implemented.
+  </div>
+{{/if}}
+
 {{#if this.firstResultPending}}
   <h2>Loading search results...</h2>
 {{else if this.dataTask.lastComplete.error}}
diff --git a/app/utils/search.js b/app/utils/search.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..610406cc4ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/utils/search.js
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+export const CATEGORY_PREFIX = 'category:';
+const KEYWORD_PREFIX = 'keyword:';
+
+/**
+ * Process a search query string and extract filters like `keyword:`.
+ *
+ * @param {string} query
+ * @return {{ q: string, keyword?: string, all_keywords?: string, category?: string }}
+ */
+export function processSearchQuery(query) {
+  let tokens = query.trim().split(/\s+/);
+
+  let queries = [];
+  let keywords = [];
+  let category = null;
+  for (let token of tokens) {
+    if (token.startsWith(CATEGORY_PREFIX)) {
+      let value = token.slice(CATEGORY_PREFIX.length).trim();
+      if (value) {
+        category = value;
+      }
+    } else if (token.startsWith(KEYWORD_PREFIX)) {
+      let value = token.slice(KEYWORD_PREFIX.length).trim();
+      if (value) {
+        keywords.push(value);
+      }
+    } else {
+      queries.push(token);
+    }
+  }
+
+  let result = { q: queries.join(' ') };
+
+  if (keywords.length === 1) {
+    result.keyword = keywords[0];
+  } else if (keywords.length !== 0) {
+    result.all_keywords = keywords.join(' ');
+  }
+
+  if (category) {
+    result.category = category;
+  }
+
+  return result;
+}
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/search-test.js b/tests/acceptance/search-test.js
index 5ab206ac6b2..99fd9ed9041 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/search-test.js
+++ b/tests/acceptance/search-test.js
@@ -191,4 +191,42 @@ module('Acceptance | search', function (hooks) {
     await visit('/search?q=rust&page=3&per_page=15&sort=new&all_keywords=fire ball');
     assert.verifySteps(['/api/v1/crates']);
   });
+
+  test('supports `keyword:bla` filters', async function (assert) {
+    this.server.get('/api/v1/crates', function (schema, request) {
+      assert.step('/api/v1/crates');
+
+      assert.deepEqual(request.queryParams, {
+        all_keywords: 'fire ball',
+        page: '3',
+        per_page: '15',
+        q: 'rust',
+        sort: 'new',
+      });
+
+      return { crates: [], meta: { total: 0 } };
+    });
+
+    await visit('/search?q=rust keyword:fire keyword:ball&page=3&per_page=15&sort=new');
+    assert.verifySteps(['/api/v1/crates']);
+  });
+
+  test('`all_keywords` query parameter takes precedence over `keyword` filters', async function (assert) {
+    this.server.get('/api/v1/crates', function (schema, request) {
+      assert.step('/api/v1/crates');
+
+      assert.deepEqual(request.queryParams, {
+        all_keywords: 'fire ball',
+        page: '3',
+        per_page: '15',
+        q: 'rust keywords:foo',
+        sort: 'new',
+      });
+
+      return { crates: [], meta: { total: 0 } };
+    });
+
+    await visit('/search?q=rust keywords:foo&page=3&per_page=15&sort=new&all_keywords=fire ball');
+    assert.verifySteps(['/api/v1/crates']);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/tests/utils/search-test.js b/tests/utils/search-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ba59b68ac1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/utils/search-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import { module, test } from 'qunit';
+
+import { processSearchQuery } from '../../utils/search';
+
+module('processSearchQuery()', function () {
+  const TESTS = [
+    ['foo', { q: 'foo' }],
+    ['  foo    bar     ', { q: 'foo bar' }],
+    ['foo keyword:bar', { q: 'foo', keyword: 'bar' }],
+    ['foo keyword:', { q: 'foo' }],
+    ['keyword:bar foo', { q: 'foo', keyword: 'bar' }],
+    ['foo \t   keyword:bar    baz', { q: 'foo baz', keyword: 'bar' }],
+    ['foo keyword:bar keyword:baz', { q: 'foo', all_keywords: 'bar baz' }],
+    ['foo category:', { q: 'foo' }],
+    ['foo category:no-std', { q: 'foo', category: 'no-std' }],
+    ['foo category:no-std keyword:bar keyword:baz', { q: 'foo', all_keywords: 'bar baz', category: 'no-std' }],
+  ];
+
+  for (let [input, expectation] of TESTS) {
+    test(input, function (assert) {
+      assert.deepEqual(processSearchQuery(input), expectation);
+    });
+  }
+});