diff --git a/src/components/views/dialogs/spotlight/SpotlightDialog.tsx b/src/components/views/dialogs/spotlight/SpotlightDialog.tsx
index 2939d7f46d1..94db40847bd 100644
--- a/src/components/views/dialogs/spotlight/SpotlightDialog.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/dialogs/spotlight/SpotlightDialog.tsx
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ import { isLocalRoom } from "../../../../utils/localRoom/isLocalRoom";
 import RoomAvatar from "../../avatars/RoomAvatar";
 import { useFeatureEnabled } from "../../../../hooks/useSettings";
 import { filterBoolean } from "../../../../utils/arrays";
+import { transformSearchTerm } from "../../../../utils/SearchInput";
 
 const MAX_RECENT_SEARCHES = 10;
 const SECTION_LIMIT = 50; // only show 50 results per section for performance reasons
@@ -466,7 +467,7 @@ const SpotlightDialog: React.FC<IProps> = ({ initialText = "", initialFilter = n
     const [spaceResults, spaceResultsLoading] = useSpaceResults(activeSpace ?? undefined, query);
 
     const setQuery = (e: ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>): void => {
-        const newQuery = e.currentTarget.value;
+        const newQuery = transformSearchTerm(e.currentTarget.value);
         _setQuery(newQuery);
     };
     useEffect(() => {
diff --git a/src/utils/SearchInput.ts b/src/utils/SearchInput.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..04b6d1bc43d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/SearchInput.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2023 Boluwatife Omosowon <boluomosowon@gmail.com>
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+import { parsePermalink } from "./permalinks/Permalinks";
+
+/**
+ * Returns the primaryEntityId(roomIdOrAlias or userId) if the search term
+ * is a permalink and the primaryEntityId is not null. Otherwise, it returns
+ * the original search term.
+ * E.g https://matrix.to/#/#element-dev:matrix.org returns #element-dev:matrix.org
+ * @param {string} searchTerm The search term.
+ * @returns {string} The roomId, alias, userId, or the original search term
+ */
+export function transformSearchTerm(searchTerm: string): string {
+    const parseLink = parsePermalink(searchTerm);
+    return parseLink?.primaryEntityId ?? searchTerm;
+}
diff --git a/test/utils/SearchInput-test.ts b/test/utils/SearchInput-test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0f863973629
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/utils/SearchInput-test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2023 Boluwatife Omosowon <boluomosowon@gmail.com>
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+import { mocked } from "jest-mock";
+
+import { parsePermalink } from "../../src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks";
+import { transformSearchTerm } from "../../src/utils/SearchInput";
+
+jest.mock("../../src/utils/permalinks/Permalinks");
+
+describe("transforming search term", () => {
+    it("should return the primaryEntityId if the search term was a permalink", () => {
+        const roomLink = "https://matrix.to/#/#element-dev:matrix.org";
+        const parsedPermalink = "#element-dev:matrix.org";
+
+        mocked(parsePermalink).mockReturnValue({
+            primaryEntityId: parsedPermalink,
+            roomIdOrAlias: parsedPermalink,
+            eventId: "",
+            userId: "",
+            viaServers: [],
+            sigil: "",
+        });
+
+        expect(transformSearchTerm(roomLink)).toBe(parsedPermalink);
+    });
+
+    it("should return the original search term if the search term is a permalink and the primaryEntityId is null", () => {
+        const searchTerm = "https://matrix.to/#/#random-link:matrix.org";
+
+        mocked(parsePermalink).mockReturnValue({
+            primaryEntityId: null,
+            roomIdOrAlias: null,
+            eventId: null,
+            userId: null,
+            viaServers: null,
+            sigil: "?",
+        });
+
+        expect(transformSearchTerm(searchTerm)).toBe(searchTerm);
+    });
+
+    it("should return the original search term if the search term was not a permalink", () => {
+        const searchTerm = "search term";
+        mocked(parsePermalink).mockReturnValue(null);
+        expect(transformSearchTerm(searchTerm)).toBe(searchTerm);
+    });
+});