diff --git a/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/App.svelte b/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/App.svelte
index 33dbebe12..c07492bc3 100644
--- a/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/App.svelte
+++ b/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/App.svelte
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
         } else {
             // no path available. try to determine path from vocabularyUrl
             const vocabPath = new URL(vocabularyUrl).pathname.split("/");
-            rootPath = contextPath = $currentPath = vocabPath.slice(0, vocabPath.length - 1).join("/");
+            rootPath = contextPath = $currentPath = vocabPath.slice(0, vocabPath.length - 1).join("/") || "/";
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/utils.js b/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/utils.js
index 395af9861..f62698471 100644
--- a/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/pat/contentbrowser/src/utils.js
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ export async function request({
         }
     };
 
-    let url = `${vocabularyUrl}&query=${JSON.stringify(
+    let url = `${vocabularyUrl}${vocabularyUrl.indexOf("?") !== -1 ? "&" : "?"}query=${JSON.stringify(
         vocabQuery
     )}&attributes=${JSON.stringify(attributes)}&batch=${JSON.stringify({
         page: page,