diff --git a/app/controllers/search_controller.rb b/app/controllers/search_controller.rb
index 1091e09f1..ff8610174 100644
--- a/app/controllers/search_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/search_controller.rb
@@ -5,5 +5,8 @@ class SearchController < ApplicationController
     tag_docs = Search::Tag.search_documents("name:#{params[:name]}* AND supported:true")
 
     render json: { result: tag_docs }
+  rescue Elasticsearch::Transport::Transport::Errors::BadRequest
+    DataDogStatsClient.increment("elasticsearch.errors", tags: ["error:BadRequest"])
+    render json: { result: [] }
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/requests/search_spec.rb b/spec/requests/search_spec.rb
index a507a1cff..08f510576 100644
--- a/spec/requests/search_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/search_spec.rb
@@ -15,5 +15,12 @@ RSpec.describe "Search", type: :request, proper_status: true do
       get "/search/tags"
       expect(response.parsed_body).to eq("result" => mock_documents)
     end
+
+    it "returns an empty array when a Elasticsearch Bad Request error is raised" do
+      sign_in authorized_user
+      allow(Search::Tag).to receive(:search_documents).and_raise(Elasticsearch::Transport::Transport::Errors::BadRequest)
+      get "/search/tags"
+      expect(response.parsed_body).to eq("result" => [])
+    end
   end
 end