diff --git a/qutebrowser/test/utils/test_urlutils.py b/qutebrowser/test/utils/test_urlutils.py
index 79f6ca5b7..3d99f08ad 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/test/utils/test_urlutils.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/test/utils/test_urlutils.py
@@ -29,13 +29,19 @@ from qutebrowser.utils import urlutils
 from qutebrowser.test import stubs
 
 
-CONFIG = {
-    'general': {'auto-search': True},
-    'searchengines': {
-        'test': 'http://www.qutebrowser.org/?q={}',
-        'DEFAULT': 'http://www.example.com/?q={}',
-    },
-}
+def get_config_stub(auto_search=True):
+    """Get a config stub.
+
+    Args:
+        auto_search: The value auto-search should have.
+    """
+    return {
+        'general': {'auto-search': auto_search},
+        'searchengines': {
+            'test': 'http://www.qutebrowser.org/?q={}',
+            'DEFAULT': 'http://www.example.com/?q={}',
+        },
+    }
 
 
 class SpecialURLTests(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -83,7 +89,7 @@ class SearchUrlTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         self.config = urlutils.config
-        urlutils.config = stubs.ConfigStub(CONFIG)
+        urlutils.config = stubs.ConfigStub(get_config_stub())
 
     def test_default_engine(self):
         """Test default search engine."""
@@ -125,7 +131,6 @@ class SearchUrlTests(unittest.TestCase):
         urlutils.config = self.config
 
 
-@unittest.mock.patch('qutebrowser.utils.urlutils.config.get', autospec=True)
 class IsUrlTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
     """Tests for is_url.
@@ -133,6 +138,9 @@ class IsUrlTests(unittest.TestCase):
     Class attributes:
         URLS: A list of strings which are URLs.
         NOT_URLS: A list of strings which aren't URLs.
+
+    Attributes:
+        config: The urlutils.config instance.
     """
 
     URLS = (
@@ -160,20 +168,36 @@ class IsUrlTests(unittest.TestCase):
         'http:foo:0',
     )
 
-    def test_urls(self, configmock):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.config = urlutils.config
+
+    def test_urls(self):
         """Test things which are URLs."""
-        configmock.return_value = 'naive'
+        urlutils.config = stubs.ConfigStub(get_config_stub('naive'))
         for url in self.URLS:
             with self.subTest(url=url):
                 self.assertTrue(urlutils.is_url(url), url)
 
-    def test_not_urls(self, configmock):
+    def test_not_urls(self):
         """Test things which are not URLs."""
-        configmock.return_value = 'naive'
+        urlutils.config = stubs.ConfigStub(get_config_stub('naive'))
         for url in self.NOT_URLS:
             with self.subTest(url=url):
                 self.assertFalse(urlutils.is_url(url), url)
 
+    def test_search_autosearch(self):
+        """Test explicit search with auto-search=True"""
+        urlutils.config = stubs.ConfigStub(get_config_stub(True))
+        self.assertFalse(urlutils.is_url('test foo'))
+
+    def test_search_no_autosearch(self):
+        """Test explicit search with auto-search=False"""
+        urlutils.config = stubs.ConfigStub(get_config_stub(False))
+        self.assertFalse(urlutils.is_url('test foo'))
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        urlutils.config = self.config
+
 
 class QurlFromUserInputTests(unittest.TestCase):
 
diff --git a/qutebrowser/utils/urlutils.py b/qutebrowser/utils/urlutils.py
index 65fc41396..dccc16961 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/utils/urlutils.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/utils/urlutils.py
@@ -37,6 +37,32 @@ from qutebrowser.commands import cmdexc
 # https://github.com/The-Compiler/qutebrowser/issues/108
 
 
+def _parse_search_term(s):
+    """Get a search engine name and search term from a string.
+
+    Args:
+        s: The string to get a search engine for.
+
+    Return:
+        A (engine, term) tuple, where engine is None for the default engine.
+    """
+    m = re.search(r'(^\w+)\s+(.+)($|\s+)', s)
+    if m:
+        engine = m.group(1)
+        try:
+            config.get('searchengines', engine)
+        except configexc.NoOptionError:
+            engine = None
+            term = s
+        else:
+            term = m.group(2).rstrip()
+    else:
+        engine = None
+        term = s
+    log.url.debug("engine {}, term '{}'".format(engine, term))
+    return (engine, term)
+
+
 def _get_search_url(txt):
     """Get a search engine URL for a text.
 
@@ -47,24 +73,13 @@ def _get_search_url(txt):
         The search URL as a QUrl.
     """
     log.url.debug("Finding search engine for '{}'".format(txt))
-    r = re.compile(r'(^\w+)\s+(.+)($|\s+)')
-    m = r.search(txt)
-    if m:
-        engine = m.group(1)
-        try:
-            template = config.get('searchengines', engine)
-        except configexc.NoOptionError:
-            template = config.get('searchengines', 'DEFAULT')
-            term = txt
-        else:
-            term = m.group(2).rstrip()
-            log.url.debug("engine {}, term '{}'".format(engine, term))
-    else:
-        template = config.get('searchengines', 'DEFAULT')
-        term = txt
-        log.url.debug("engine: default, term '{}'".format(txt))
+    engine, term = _parse_search_term(txt)
     if not term:
         raise FuzzyUrlError("No search term given")
+    if engine is None:
+        template = config.get('searchengines', 'DEFAULT')
+    else:
+        template = config.get('searchengines', engine)
     url = qurl_from_user_input(template.format(urllib.parse.quote(term)))
     qtutils.ensure_valid(url)
     return url
@@ -206,8 +221,13 @@ def is_url(urlstr):
     qurl = QUrl(urlstr)
 
     if not autosearch:
-        # no autosearch, so everything is a URL.
-        return True
+        # no autosearch, so everything is a URL unless it has an explicit
+        # search engine.
+        engine, _term = _parse_search_term(urlstr)
+        if engine is None:
+            return True
+        else:
+            return False
 
     if _has_explicit_scheme(qurl):
         # URLs with explicit schemes are always URLs