diff --git a/src/args.rs b/src/args.rs
index a21df05..be063c4 100644
--- a/src/args.rs
+++ b/src/args.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #![allow(clippy::module_name_repetitions)]
 
+use crate::operations::SearchBy;
 use clap::{Parser, Subcommand, ValueHint};
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Parser)]
@@ -105,6 +106,10 @@ pub struct SearchArgs {
     /// The string the package must match in the search
     #[clap(required = true)]
     pub search: Vec<String>,
+
+    /// Sets the search-by directive for searching the AUR only
+    #[clap(long, short, possible_values = SearchBy::variants())]
+    pub by: Option<SearchBy>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Default, Debug, Clone, Parser)]
diff --git a/src/internal/rpc.rs b/src/internal/rpc.rs
index 81ca890..ebc5764 100644
--- a/src/internal/rpc.rs
+++ b/src/internal/rpc.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use crate::operations::SearchBy;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
 #[derive(serde::Deserialize, Debug, Clone)]
@@ -75,7 +76,7 @@ pub fn rpcinfo(pkg: &str) -> InfoResults {
 }
 
 /// Return a struct of type [`SearchResults`] from the AUR.
-pub fn rpcsearch(pkg: &str) -> SearchResults {
+pub fn rpcsearch(pkg: &str, by: SearchBy) -> SearchResults {
     // Initialise TLS connector
     let tls_connector = Arc::new(native_tls::TlsConnector::new().unwrap());
 
@@ -87,8 +88,8 @@ pub fn rpcsearch(pkg: &str) -> SearchResults {
     // Send request and parse results into json
     agent
         .get(&format!(
-            "https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=search&arg={}",
-            pkg
+            "https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/?v=5&type=search&by={}&arg={}",
+            by, pkg
         ))
         .call()
         .unwrap()
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 5cc42d7..4386ec2 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ fn cmd_search(args: &SearchArgs, options: Options) {
         let asp = spinner!("Searching AUR for {}", query_string);
 
         // Search AUR
-        let ret = operations::aur_search(&query_string, options);
+        let ret = operations::aur_search(&query_string, options, args.by.unwrap_or_default());
         asp.stop_bold("AUR search complete");
 
         ret
diff --git a/src/operations/mod.rs b/src/operations/mod.rs
index ef348bb..0843999 100644
--- a/src/operations/mod.rs
+++ b/src/operations/mod.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 pub use aur_install::*;
 pub use clean::*;
 pub use install::*;
-pub use search::{aur_search, repo_search as search};
+pub use search::{aur_search, repo_search as search, SearchBy};
 pub use uninstall::*;
 pub use upgrade::*;
 
diff --git a/src/operations/search.rs b/src/operations/search.rs
index d1f9dee..35865be 100644
--- a/src/operations/search.rs
+++ b/src/operations/search.rs
@@ -2,17 +2,82 @@ use chrono::{Local, TimeZone};
 use colored::Colorize;
 use textwrap::wrap;
 
+use std::fmt::Display;
+use std::str::FromStr;
+
 use crate::internal::commands::ShellCommand;
 use crate::internal::error::SilentUnwrap;
 use crate::internal::exit_code::AppExitCode;
 use crate::internal::rpc::rpcsearch;
 use crate::{log, Options};
 
+#[allow(clippy::module_name_repetitions)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
+pub enum SearchBy {
+    Name,
+    NameDesc,
+    Maintainer,
+    Depends,
+    MakeDepends,
+    OptDepends,
+    CheckDepends,
+}
+
+impl FromStr for SearchBy {
+    type Err = String;
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        match s {
+            "name" => Ok(Self::Name),
+            "name-desc" => Ok(Self::NameDesc),
+            "maintainer" => Ok(Self::Maintainer),
+            "depends" => Ok(Self::Depends),
+            "makedepends" => Ok(Self::MakeDepends),
+            "optdepends" => Ok(Self::OptDepends),
+            "checkdepends" => Ok(Self::CheckDepends),
+            _ => Err(format!("Invalid search-by directive \"{}\"", s)),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl Display for SearchBy {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            Self::Name => write!(f, "name"),
+            Self::NameDesc => write!(f, "name-desc"),
+            Self::Maintainer => write!(f, "maintainer"),
+            Self::Depends => write!(f, "depends"),
+            Self::MakeDepends => write!(f, "makedepends"),
+            Self::OptDepends => write!(f, "optdepends"),
+            Self::CheckDepends => write!(f, "checkdepends"),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl Default for SearchBy {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self::NameDesc
+    }
+}
+
+impl SearchBy {
+    pub fn variants() -> Vec<&'static str> {
+        vec![
+            "name",
+            "name-desc",
+            "maintainer",
+            "depends",
+            "makedepends",
+            "optdepends",
+            "checkdepends",
+        ]
+    }
+}
+
 #[allow(clippy::module_name_repetitions)]
 /// Searches for packages from the AUR and returns wrapped results
-pub fn aur_search(query: &str, options: Options) -> String {
+pub fn aur_search(query: &str, options: Options, by: SearchBy) -> String {
     // Query AUR for package info
-    let res = rpcsearch(query);
+    let res = rpcsearch(query, by);
 
     // Get verbosity
     let verbosity = options.verbosity;