diff --git a/query/search.js b/query/search.js
index 77fcb3f5..5689d9ec 100644
--- a/query/search.js
+++ b/query/search.js
@@ -3,6 +3,13 @@ var peliasQuery = require('pelias-query'),
     textParser = require('./text_parser'),
     check = require('check-types'),
     geolib = require('geolib');
+var placeTypes = require('../helper/placeTypes');
+
+// region_a is also an admin field. addressit tries to detect
+// region_a, in which case we use a match query specifically for it.
+// but address it doesn't know about all of them so it helps to search
+// against this with the other admin parts as a fallback
+var adminFields = placeTypes.concat(['region_a']);
 
 //------------------------------
 // general-purpose search query
@@ -25,15 +32,12 @@ query.score( peliasQuery.view.address('street') );
 query.score( peliasQuery.view.address('postcode') );
 
 // admin components
-query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('country') );
+// country_a and region_a are left as matches here because the text-analyzer
+// can sometimes detect them, in which case a query more specific than a
+// multi_match is appropriate.
 query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('country_a') );
-query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('region') );
 query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('region_a') );
-query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('county') );
-query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('borough') );
-query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('localadmin') );
-query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('locality') );
-query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin('neighbourhood') );
+query.score( peliasQuery.view.admin_multi_match(adminFields), 'peliasAdmin' );
 
 // non-scoring hard filters
 query.filter( peliasQuery.view.boundary_circle );
diff --git a/test/unit/fixture/search_full_address.js b/test/unit/fixture/search_full_address.js
index dfd64e34..c7ba7abc 100644
--- a/test/unit/fixture/search_full_address.js
+++ b/test/unit/fixture/search_full_address.js
@@ -99,14 +99,6 @@ module.exports = {
                 'analyzer': vs['address:postcode:analyzer']
               }
             }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.country': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:country:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:country:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
           }, {
             'match': {
               'parent.country_a': {
@@ -115,14 +107,6 @@ module.exports = {
                 'analyzer': vs['admin:country_a:analyzer']
               }
             }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.region': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:region:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:region:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
           }, {
             'match': {
               'parent.region_a': {
@@ -132,44 +116,19 @@ module.exports = {
               }
             }
           }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.county': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:county:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:county:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.borough': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:borough:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:borough:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.localadmin': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:localadmin:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:localadmin:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.locality': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:locality:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:locality:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.neighbourhood': {
+            'multi_match': {
+                'fields': [
+                  'parent.country^4',
+                  'parent.region^3',
+                  'parent.county^2',
+                  'parent.localadmin^1',
+                  'parent.locality^1',
+                  'parent.borough^1',
+                  'parent.neighbourhood^1',
+                  'parent.region_a^3'
+                ],
                 'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:neighbourhood:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:neighbourhood:analyzer']
-              }
+                'analyzer': 'peliasAdmin'
             }
           }]
         }
diff --git a/test/unit/fixture/search_partial_address.js b/test/unit/fixture/search_partial_address.js
index 746899b7..98fa8167 100644
--- a/test/unit/fixture/search_partial_address.js
+++ b/test/unit/fixture/search_partial_address.js
@@ -75,69 +75,28 @@ module.exports = {
                 'weight': 2
               }]
             }
-          },{
-            'match': {
-              'parent.country': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:country:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:country:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.region': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:region:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:region:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
           }, {
             'match': {
               'parent.region_a': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:region_a:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:region_a:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.county': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:county:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:county:analyzer']
+                'analyzer': 'peliasAdmin',
+                'boost': 3,
+                'query': 'new york'
               }
             }
           }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.borough': {
+            'multi_match': {
+                'fields': [
+                  'parent.country^4',
+                  'parent.region^3',
+                  'parent.county^2',
+                  'parent.localadmin^1',
+                  'parent.locality^1',
+                  'parent.borough^1',
+                  'parent.neighbourhood^1',
+                  'parent.region_a^3'
+                ],
                 'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:borough:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:borough:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.localadmin': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:localadmin:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:localadmin:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.locality': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:locality:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:locality:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.neighbourhood': {
-                'query': 'new york',
-                'boost': vs['admin:neighbourhood:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:neighbourhood:analyzer']
-              }
+                'analyzer': 'peliasAdmin'
             }
           }]
         }
diff --git a/test/unit/fixture/search_regions_address.js b/test/unit/fixture/search_regions_address.js
index 0a8b199d..264d5eea 100644
--- a/test/unit/fixture/search_regions_address.js
+++ b/test/unit/fixture/search_regions_address.js
@@ -91,22 +91,6 @@ module.exports = {
                 'analyzer': vs['address:street:analyzer']
               }
             }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.country': {
-                'query': 'manhattan',
-                'boost': vs['admin:country:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:country:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.region': {
-                'query': 'manhattan',
-                'boost': vs['admin:region:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:region:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
           }, {
             'match': {
               'parent.region_a': {
@@ -116,44 +100,19 @@ module.exports = {
               }
             }
           }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.county': {
-                'query': 'manhattan',
-                'boost': vs['admin:county:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:county:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.borough': {
-                'query': 'manhattan',
-                'boost': vs['admin:borough:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:borough:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.localadmin': {
-                'query': 'manhattan',
-                'boost': vs['admin:localadmin:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:localadmin:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.locality': {
-                'query': 'manhattan',
-                'boost': vs['admin:locality:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:locality:analyzer']
-              }
-            }
-          }, {
-            'match': {
-              'parent.neighbourhood': {
+            'multi_match': {
+                'fields': [
+                  'parent.country^4',
+                  'parent.region^3',
+                  'parent.county^2',
+                  'parent.localadmin^1',
+                  'parent.locality^1',
+                  'parent.borough^1',
+                  'parent.neighbourhood^1',
+                  'parent.region_a^3'
+                ],
                 'query': 'manhattan',
-                'boost': vs['admin:neighbourhood:boost'],
-                'analyzer': vs['admin:neighbourhood:analyzer']
-              }
+                'analyzer': 'peliasAdmin'
             }
           }]
         }