diff --git a/component/core/src/main/java/org/exoplatform/social/core/jpa/search/ProfileSearchConnector.java b/component/core/src/main/java/org/exoplatform/social/core/jpa/search/ProfileSearchConnector.java
index 668e6555e47..8eba2495f39 100644
--- a/component/core/src/main/java/org/exoplatform/social/core/jpa/search/ProfileSearchConnector.java
+++ b/component/core/src/main/java/org/exoplatform/social/core/jpa/search/ProfileSearchConnector.java
@@ -573,9 +573,9 @@ private static String removeAccents(String string) {
   }
 
   public static String removeESReservedChars(String string) {
-    String [] ES_RESERVED_CHARS = new String []{"","+","-","=","&&","||",">","<","!","(",")","{","}","[","]","^","\"","~","*","?",":","\\","/"};
+    String [] ES_RESERVED_CHARS = new String []{"+","-","=","&&","||",">","<","!","(",")","{","}","[","]","^","\"","~","*","?",":","\\","/"};
     for(String c : ES_RESERVED_CHARS) {
-      string = string.replace(c, "");
+      string = string.replace(c, " ");
     }
     return string;
   }