diff --git a/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.ts b/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.ts
index a3481c7..4f3d4d1 100644
--- a/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.ts
+++ b/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ export function getSearchQueryParamsAsObject(str: string): {
   [key: string]: any;
 } {
   const obj: { [key: string]: any } = {};
+  if (str.indexOf("?") === -1) return obj;
   let queryString = str.substring(str.indexOf("?"));
   queryString = queryString.split("#").shift();
   if (!queryString) return obj;
diff --git a/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.unit.test.ts b/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.unit.test.ts
index f56bf34..c6ceb56 100644
--- a/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.unit.test.ts
+++ b/src/helpers/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject/getSearchQueryParamsAsObject.unit.test.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,16 @@
 import { getSearchQueryParamsAsObject } from "./getSearchQueryParamsAsObject";
 import { Actor } from "../../XAPI";
 
+test("handles url with no query parameters", () => {
+  return expect(
+    Object.keys(getSearchQueryParamsAsObject("http://localhost:1234/")).length
+  ).toEqual(0);
+});
+
 test("handles empty querystring", () => {
-  return expect(getSearchQueryParamsAsObject("")).toMatchObject({});
+  return expect(Object.keys(getSearchQueryParamsAsObject("")).length).toEqual(
+    0
+  );
 });
 
 test("converts querystring into object", () => {