diff --git a/ng-projects/scullyio/ng-lib/src/lib/scully-content/scully-content.component.ts b/ng-projects/scullyio/ng-lib/src/lib/scully-content/scully-content.component.ts
index c7f7cf04d..c4e93823b 100644
--- a/ng-projects/scullyio/ng-lib/src/lib/scully-content/scully-content.component.ts
+++ b/ng-projects/scullyio/ng-lib/src/lib/scully-content/scully-content.component.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {filter, take, tap} from 'rxjs/operators';
 import {ScullyRoutesService} from '../route-service/scully-routes.service';
 import {fetchHttp} from '../utils/fetchHttp';
 import {findComments} from '../utils/findComments';
+import {basePathOnly} from '../utils/basePathOnly';
 
 interface ScullyContent {
   html: string;
@@ -25,7 +26,6 @@ declare global {
 /** this is needed, because otherwise the CLI borks while building */
 const scullyBegin = '<!--scullyContent-begin-->';
 const scullyEnd = '<!--scullyContent-end-->';
-const dropEndingSlash = (str: string) => (str.endsWith('/') ? str.slice(0, -1) : str);
 
 @Component({
   // tslint:disable-next-line: component-selector
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export class ScullyContentComponent implements OnDestroy, OnInit {
    * Will fetch the content from sibling links with xmlHTTPrequest
    */
   private async handlePage() {
-    const curPage = dropEndingSlash(location.href);
+    const curPage = basePathOnly(location.href);
     if (this.lastHandled === curPage) {
       /**
        * Due to the fix we needed for #311
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ export class ScullyContentComponent implements OnDestroy, OnInit {
         .catch(e => {
           if (isDevMode()) {
             const uri = new URL(location.href);
-            const url = `http://localhost:1668/${dropEndingSlash(uri.pathname)}/index.html`;
+            const url = `http://localhost:1668/${basePathOnly(uri.pathname)}/index.html`;
             return fetchHttp(url, 'text');
           } else {
             throw new Error(e);
@@ -156,11 +156,11 @@ export class ScullyContentComponent implements OnDestroy, OnInit {
    */
   async upgradeToRoutelink(elm: HTMLElement) {
     const routes = await this.routes;
-    const lnk = dropEndingSlash(elm.getAttribute('href').toLowerCase());
-    const route = routes.find(r => dropEndingSlash(r.route.toLowerCase()) === lnk);
+    const lnk = basePathOnly(elm.getAttribute('href').toLowerCase());
+    const route = routes.find(r => basePathOnly(r.route.toLowerCase()) === lnk);
 
     /** only upgrade routes known by scully. */
-    if (lnk && route) {
+    if (lnk && route && !lnk.startsWith('#')) {
       elm.onclick = async (ev: MouseEvent) => {
         const splitRoute = route.route.split(`/`);
         const curSplit = location.pathname.split('/');
@@ -176,8 +176,11 @@ export class ScullyContentComponent implements OnDestroy, OnInit {
           return;
         }
 
-        /** check for the same route with different "data", and NOT a level higher (length) */
-        if (curSplit.every((part, i) => splitRoute[i] === part) && splitRoute.length > curSplit.length) {
+        /** check for the same route with different "data", and NOT a 1 level higher (length) */
+        if (
+          curSplit.every((part, i) => splitRoute[i] === part) &&
+          splitRoute.length !== curSplit.length + 1
+        ) {
           setTimeout(() => this.replaceContent(), 10); // a small delay, so we are sure the angular parts in the page are settled enough
         }
       };
diff --git a/ng-projects/scullyio/ng-lib/src/lib/utils/basePathOnly.ts b/ng-projects/scullyio/ng-lib/src/lib/utils/basePathOnly.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..30e3ae335
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ng-projects/scullyio/ng-lib/src/lib/utils/basePathOnly.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/**
+ * Take a string, preferably resembling an URL, take out the search params, the anchors, and the ending slash
+ * @param str
+ */
+export const basePathOnly = (str: string): string => {
+  if (str.includes('#')) {
+    str = str.split('#')[0];
+  }
+  if (str.includes('?')) {
+    str = str.split('?')[0];
+  }
+  const cleanedUpVersion = str.endsWith('/') ? str.slice(0, -1) : str;
+  return cleanedUpVersion;
+};
diff --git a/scully/routerPlugins/addOptionalRoutesPlugin.ts b/scully/routerPlugins/addOptionalRoutesPlugin.ts
index f76e70dbb..1168e9c38 100644
--- a/scully/routerPlugins/addOptionalRoutesPlugin.ts
+++ b/scully/routerPlugins/addOptionalRoutesPlugin.ts
@@ -93,6 +93,26 @@ async function routePluginHandler(route: string): Promise<HandledRoute[]> {
           )} is invalid.`
         );
       }
+      if (handledRoute.route.includes('?')) {
+        const updatedRoute = handledRoute.route.split('?')[0];
+        logWarn(
+          `The route "${yellow(
+            handledRoute.route
+          )}" contains a search param, this will be ignored during rendering. it will be truncated to:
+  "${yellow(updatedRoute)}"`
+        );
+        handledRoute.route = updatedRoute;
+      }
+      if (handledRoute.route.includes('#')) {
+        const updatedRoute = handledRoute.route.split('#')[0];
+        logWarn(
+          `The route "${yellow(
+            handledRoute.route
+          )}" contains a hash(#), this will be ignored during rendering. it will be truncated to:
+            "${yellow(updatedRoute)}"`
+        );
+        handledRoute.route = updatedRoute;
+      }
     });
     return generatedRoutes;
   }
diff --git a/tests/cypress/integration/sampleBlog.spec.js b/tests/cypress/integration/sampleBlog.spec.js
index bfeb05a6f..967f15063 100644
--- a/tests/cypress/integration/sampleBlog.spec.js
+++ b/tests/cypress/integration/sampleBlog.spec.js
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ context('check first integration test', () => {
     cy.get('ul>li>a')
       .contains('/user')
       .click()
+      .wait(25) // give the async fetch a bit of time to complete
       .get('a')
       .contains('Leanne Graham')
       .click()