diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7285303..df72118 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -159,7 +159,8 @@ const filter = {
 const result = util.recursive_filter(
   to_filter,
   [filter],
-  'children'
+  'children',
+  true // let the function know, that it is running on an indexed object
 );
 ```
 
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 21c47d5..583080c 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -92,9 +92,15 @@ function to_search_string (element, field) {
  * @param {Array<object>} input
  * @param {Array<{field: string|string[], filter: RegExp}>} filters
  * @param {string} children_key field where children are stored
+ * @param {boolean} indexed set to true if the object was indexed
  * @returns {Array<object>} filtered data
  */
-function recursive_filter (input, filters, children_key = 'children') {
+function recursive_filter (
+  input,
+  filters,
+  children_key = 'children',
+  indexed = false
+) {
   const data = [ ...input ];
   const filtered = [];
   for (let i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
@@ -109,16 +115,20 @@ function recursive_filter (input, filters, children_key = 'children') {
         break;
       }
     }
-    if (match) {
+    if (match && !indexed) {
       filtered.push (e);
     }
     else {
-      if (typeof e[children_key] === 'undefined')
+      if (!Array.isArray (e[children_key])) {
+        if (match && indexed)
+          filtered.push (e);
         continue;
+      }
       e[children_key] = recursive_filter (
         e[children_key],
         filters,
-        children_key
+        children_key,
+        indexed
       );
       if (e[children_key].length > 0)
         filtered.push (e);
@@ -150,7 +160,10 @@ function filter_index (
         .filter ((v) => typeof v !== 'undefined')
         .join (' ');
     }
-    search_str += to_search_string (e, field);
+    const self_str = to_search_string (e, field);
+    if (search_str.length > 0 && self_str.length > 0)
+      search_str += ' ';
+    search_str += self_str;
     e[index_field] = search_str;
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index ba5ae97..2696f72 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -205,6 +205,7 @@ test ('recursive filter undefined multifield', (t) => {
   t.deepEqual (res, []);
 });
 
+// eslint-disable-next-line max-lines-per-function
 test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
   const raw = [
     { name: 'foo', f: 'include' },
@@ -218,7 +219,7 @@ test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
     {
       name:     'baz',
       children: [
-        { name: 'include_foo' },
+        { name: 'include_foo', f: 'include' },
         { name: 'bar' }
       ]
     },
@@ -236,7 +237,19 @@ test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
       name:         'foo',
       f:            'include',
       search_index: 'foo include'
+    },
+    {
+      name:     'baz',
+      children: [
+        {
+          name:         'include_foo',
+          f:            'include',
+          search_index: 'include_foo include'
+        }
+      ],
+      search_index: 'include_foo include bar baz'
     }
+
   ];
 
   util.filter_index (raw, [
@@ -248,6 +261,6 @@ test ('recursive filter multifield index', (t) => {
     field:  'search_index',
     filter: /foo include/ui
   };
-  const result = util.recursive_filter (raw, [ filter ]);
+  const result = util.recursive_filter (raw, [ filter ], 'children', true);
   t.deepEqual (filtered, result);
 });