diff --git a/routers/web/explore/repo.go b/routers/web/explore/repo.go
index 058971b9b8..8ed94e74f5 100644
--- a/routers/web/explore/repo.go
+++ b/routers/web/explore/repo.go
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	// tplExploreRepos explore repositories page template
-	tplExploreRepos        base.TplName = "explore/repos"
-	relevantReposOnlyParam string       = "no_filter"
+	tplExploreRepos base.TplName = "explore/repos"
 )
 
 // RepoSearchOptions when calling search repositories
@@ -84,9 +83,13 @@ func RenderRepoSearch(ctx *context.Context, opts *RepoSearchOptions) {
 	default:
 		ctx.Data["SortType"] = "recentupdate"
 		orderBy = db.SearchOrderByRecentUpdated
+		onlyShowRelevant = setting.UI.OnlyShowRelevantRepos && !ctx.FormBool("no_filter")
 	}
 
 	keyword := ctx.FormTrim("q")
+	if keyword != "" {
+		onlyShowRelevant = false
+	}
 
 	ctx.Data["OnlyShowRelevant"] = opts.OnlyShowRelevant
 
@@ -138,7 +141,7 @@ func RenderRepoSearch(ctx *context.Context, opts *RepoSearchOptions) {
 	pager.SetDefaultParams(ctx)
 	pager.AddParam(ctx, "topic", "TopicOnly")
 	pager.AddParam(ctx, "language", "Language")
-	pager.AddParamString(relevantReposOnlyParam, ctx.FormString(relevantReposOnlyParam))
+	pager.AddParamString("no_filter", ctx.FormString("no_filter"))
 	ctx.Data["Page"] = pager
 
 	ctx.HTML(http.StatusOK, opts.TplName)