diff --git a/handler/app/context.go b/handler/app/context.go
index 715a56ac..6b6c8e5c 100644
--- a/handler/app/context.go
+++ b/handler/app/context.go
@@ -1449,6 +1449,8 @@ func SearchReleaser(c echo.Context) error {
 	data["logo"] = title
 	data["title"] = title
 	data["info"] = "search for a group, initialism, magazine, board, or site"
+	data["helpText"] = "searching for 4 or fewer characters triggers an initialism lookup, " +
+		"if no results are found, a new search is made for the releaser names"
 	data["hxPost"] = "/search/releaser"
 	data["inputPlaceholder"] = "Type to search for a releaser…"
 	err := c.Render(http.StatusOK, name, data)
diff --git a/handler/htmx/htmx.go b/handler/htmx/htmx.go
index 55a660a0..3bd38ff0 100644
--- a/handler/htmx/htmx.go
+++ b/handler/htmx/htmx.go
@@ -547,7 +547,7 @@ func SearchReleaser(c echo.Context, db *sql.DB, logger *zap.SugaredLogger) error
 	}
 	lookup = append(lookup, slug)
 	var r model.Releasers
-	if len(slug) < initalism {
+	if len(slug) <= initalism {
 		if err := r.Initialism(ctx, db, maxResults, lookup...); err != nil {
 			if logger != nil {
 				logger.Error(err)
@@ -555,15 +555,18 @@ func SearchReleaser(c echo.Context, db *sql.DB, logger *zap.SugaredLogger) error
 			return c.String(http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
 				"the search query failed")
 		}
-	} else if err := r.Similar(ctx, db, maxResults, lookup...); err != nil {
-		if logger != nil {
-			logger.Error(err)
+	}
+	if len(r) == 0 {
+		if err := r.Similar(ctx, db, maxResults, lookup...); err != nil {
+			if logger != nil {
+				logger.Error(err)
+			}
+			return c.String(http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
+				"the search query failed")
 		}
-		return c.String(http.StatusServiceUnavailable,
-			"the search query failed")
 	}
 	if len(r) == 0 {
-		return c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "No releasers found.")
+		return c.HTML(http.StatusOK, "No initialisms or releasers found.")
 	}
 	err := c.Render(http.StatusOK, "searchreleasers", map[string]interface{}{
 		"maximum": maxResults,
diff --git a/view/app/searchhtmx.tmpl b/view/app/searchhtmx.tmpl
index 46f7e4c7..8a211927 100644
--- a/view/app/searchhtmx.tmpl
+++ b/view/app/searchhtmx.tmpl
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 {{- define "content" }} 
 {{- $hxpost := index . "hxPost" }}
 {{- $placeholder := index . "inputPlaceholder" }}
+{{- $helper := index . "helpText"}}
 <div class="row justify-content-md-center">
     <div class="col-md-8 col-lg-6">
         <div class="card border-dark mb-3">      
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@
                     <small class="fs-5 fw-lighter">{{index . "info"}}</small>
                 </h5>
                 <p class="card-text">
+                {{- if ne "" $helper}}<small class="text-muted">{{index . "helpText"}}</small>{{end}}
                 <div class="input-group">
                     <div class="input-group-text">
                         <div id="search-htmx-indicator" class="htmx-indicator spinner-border spinner-border-sm text-secondary" role="status">