diff --git a/qutebrowser/utils/url.py b/qutebrowser/utils/url.py
index 67422112f..2cc6da257 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/utils/url.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/utils/url.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 import re
 import socket
 import logging
-import ipaddress
 import urllib.parse
 
 from PyQt5.QtCore import QUrl
@@ -13,32 +12,41 @@ import qutebrowser.utils.config as config
 
 def qurl(url):
     """Get a QUrl from an url string."""
-    if isinstance(url, QUrl):
-        logging.debug("url is already a qurl")
-        return url
-    return QUrl.fromUserInput(url)
+    return url if isinstance(url, QUrl) else QUrl(url)
+
+
+def urlstring(url):
+    """Return an QUrl as string.
+
+    qurl -- URL as string or QUrl.
+    """
+    return url.url() if isinstance(url, QUrl) else url
 
 
 def fuzzy_url(url):
-    """Returns a QUrl based on an user input which is URL or search term."""
-    u = url.toString() if isinstance(url, QUrl) else url
+    """Return a QUrl based on an user input which is URL or search term.
+
+    url -- URL to load as QUrl or string.
+    """
+    u = qurl(url)
+    urlstr = urlstring(url)
     if is_url(u):
         # probably an address
         logging.debug("url is a fuzzy address")
-        newurl = QUrl.fromUserInput(u)
+        newurl = QUrl.fromUserInput(urlstr)
     else:  # probably a search term
         logging.debug("url is a fuzzy search term")
         try:
-            newurl = QUrl.fromUserInput(_get_search_url(u))
-        except ValueError:
-            newurl = QUrl.fromUserInput(u)
-    logging.debug('Converting fuzzy term {} to url -> {}'.format(
-        u, newurl.url()))
+            newurl = _get_search_url(urlstr)
+        except ValueError:  # invalid search engine
+            newurl = QUrl.fromUserInput(urlstr)
+    logging.debug('Converting fuzzy term {} to url -> {}'.format(urlstr,
+                                                                 newurl.url()))
     return newurl
 
 
 def _get_search_url(txt):
-    """Get a search engine URL for a text."""
+    """Return a search engine URL (QUrl) for a text."""
     logging.debug('Finding search engine for "{}"'.format(txt))
     r = re.compile(r'(^|\s+)!(\w+)($|\s+)')
     m = r.search(txt)
@@ -55,67 +63,48 @@ def _get_search_url(txt):
         logging.debug('engine: default, term "{}"'.format(txt))
     if template is None or not term:
         raise ValueError
-    return template.format(urllib.parse.quote(term))
+    return QUrl.fromUserInput(template.format(urllib.parse.quote(term)))
 
 
 def is_about_url(url):
-    """Return True if url is an about:... or other special URL."""
-    u = url.toString() if isinstance(url, QUrl) else url
-    return u.replace('http://', '').startswith('about:')
+    """Return True if url (QUrl) is an about:... or other special URL."""
+    return urlstring(url).replace('http://', '').startswith('about:')
 
 
 def is_url(url):
-    """Return True if url seems to be a valid URL."""
-    logging.debug('Checking if "{}" is an URL'.format(url))
-    if ' ' in url:
+    """Return True if url (QUrl) seems to be a valid URL."""
+    logging.debug('Checking if "{}" is an URL'.format(url.url()))
+    if ' ' in urlstring(url):
         # An URL will never contain a space
         logging.debug('Contains space -> no url')
         return False
     elif config.config.getboolean('general', 'addressbar_dns_lookup'):
         logging.debug('Checking via DNS')
-        return _is_url_dns(url)
+        return _is_url_dns(QUrl.fromUserInput(urlstring(url)))
     else:
         logging.debug('Checking via naive check')
         return _is_url_naive(url)
 
 
 def _is_url_naive(url):
-    """Naive check if given url string is really an url."""
+    """Naive check if given url (QUrl) is really an url."""
     PROTOCOLS = ['http://', 'https://']
-    ip = _get_netloc(url)
-    if not ip:
-        is_ip = False
-    else:
-        try:
-            ipaddress.ip_address(ip)
-        except ValueError:
-            is_ip = False
-        else:
-            is_ip = True
-    return (any([url.startswith(proto) for proto in PROTOCOLS]) or
-            '.' in url or is_about_url(url) or url == 'localhost'
-            or is_ip)
+    u = urlstring(url)
+    return (any([u.startswith(proto) for proto in PROTOCOLS]) or '.' in u or
+            is_about_url(url) or u == 'localhost')
 
 
 def _is_url_dns(url):
-    """Check if an url string is really an url via DNS."""
+    """Check if an url (QUrl) is really an url via DNS."""
     # FIXME we could probably solve this in a nicer way by attempting to open
     # the page in the webview, and then open the search if that fails.
-    netloc = _get_netloc(url)
-    if not netloc:
+    host = url.host()
+    logging.debug("DNS request for {}".format(host))
+    if not host:
         return False
     try:
-        socket.gethostbyname(netloc)
+        socket.gethostbyname(host)
     except socket.gaierror:
         return False
     else:
         return True
-
-
-def _get_netloc(url):
-    """Gets the host part of an url."""
-    # FIXME better way to do this?
-    if '://' in url:
-        return urllib.parse.urlsplit(url).netloc
-    else:
-        return urllib.parse.urlsplit('http://' + url).netloc