diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index ac35c74e..c69a6564 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { cloneElement, h, Component } from 'preact';
-import { exec, pathRankSort } from './util';
+import { exec, rankChild } from './util';
 
 let customHistory = null;
 
@@ -21,20 +21,38 @@ function setUrl(url, type='push') {
 }
 
 
+function getCurrentLocation() {
+	return (customHistory && customHistory.location) ||
+		(customHistory && customHistory.getCurrentLocation && customHistory.getCurrentLocation()) ||
+		(typeof location!=='undefined' ? location : EMPTY);
+}
+
 function getCurrentUrl() {
-	let url;
-	if (customHistory && customHistory.location) {
-		url = customHistory.location;
-	}
-	else if (customHistory && customHistory.getCurrentLocation) {
-		url = customHistory.getCurrentLocation();
-	}
-	else {
-		url = typeof location!=='undefined' ? location : EMPTY;
-	}
+	let url = getCurrentLocation();
 	return `${url.pathname || ''}${url.search || ''}`;
 }
 
+const a = typeof document!=='undefined' && document.createElement('a');
+
+// Based on https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#appendix-B
+const uriRegex = new RegExp('^([^:/?#]+:)?(?://([^/?#]*))?([^?#]*)((?:\\?[^#]*)?)((?:#.*)?)');
+
+/* Resolve URL relative to current location */
+function resolve(url) {
+	let current = getCurrentLocation();
+	if (a) {
+		a.setAttribute('href', url);
+		url = a.href;
+	}
+	let [,protocol,host,pathname,search] = uriRegex.exec(url);
+	if (
+		(current.protocol && protocol !== current.protocol) ||
+		(current.host && host !== current.host)
+	) {
+		return;
+	}
+	return `${pathname}${search}`;
+}
 
 function route(url, replace=false) {
 	if (typeof url!=='string' && url.url) {
@@ -42,6 +60,9 @@ function route(url, replace=false) {
 		url = url.url;
 	}
 
+	url = resolve(url);
+	if (!url) return;
+
 	// only push URL into history if we can handle it
 	if (canRoute(url)) {
 		setUrl(url, replace ? 'replace' : 'push');
@@ -53,22 +74,13 @@ function route(url, replace=false) {
 
 /** Check if the given URL can be handled by any router instances. */
 function canRoute(url) {
-	for (let i=ROUTERS.length; i--; ) {
-		if (ROUTERS[i].canRoute(url)) return true;
-	}
-	return false;
+	return ROUTERS.some(router => router.canRoute(url));
 }
 
 
 /** Tell all router instances to handle the given URL.  */
 function routeTo(url) {
-	let didRoute = false;
-	for (let i=0; i<ROUTERS.length; i++) {
-		if (ROUTERS[i].routeTo(url)===true) {
-			didRoute = true;
-		}
-	}
-	return didRoute;
+	return ROUTERS.reduce((didRoute, router) => (router.routeTo(url) === true || didRoute), false);
 }
 
 
@@ -79,8 +91,8 @@ function routeFromLink(node) {
 	let href = node.getAttribute('href'),
 		target = node.getAttribute('target');
 
-	// ignore links with targets and non-path URLs
-	if (!href || !href.match(/^\//g) || (target && !target.match(/^_?self$/i))) return;
+	// ignore links with targets
+	if (!href || (target && !target.match(/^_?self$/i))) return;
 
 	// attempt to route, if no match simply cede control to browser
 	return route(href);
@@ -158,13 +170,12 @@ class Router extends Component {
 	}
 
 	shouldComponentUpdate(props) {
-		if (props.static!==true) return true;
-		return props.url!==this.props.url || props.onChange!==this.props.onChange;
+		return props.static!==true || props.url!==this.props.url || props.onChange!==this.props.onChange;
 	}
 
 	/** Check if the given URL can be matched against any children */
 	canRoute(url) {
-		return this.getMatchingChildren(this.props.children, url, false).length > 0;
+		return this.props.children.some(({ attributes=EMPTY }) => !!exec(url, attributes.path, attributes));
 	}
 
 	/** Re-render children with a new URL to match against. */
@@ -207,24 +218,32 @@ class Router extends Component {
 	}
 
 	getMatchingChildren(children, url, invoke) {
-		return children.slice().sort(pathRankSort).map( vnode => {
-			let path = vnode.attributes.path,
-				matches = exec(url, path, vnode.attributes);
-			if (matches) {
-				if (invoke!==false) {
-					let newProps = { url, matches };
-					// copy matches onto props
-					for (let i in matches) {
-						if (matches.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
-							newProps[i] = matches[i];
-						}
-					}
-					return cloneElement(vnode, newProps);
-				}
-				return vnode;
-			}
-			return false;
-		}).filter(Boolean);
+		return children
+			.filter(({ attributes }) => !!attributes)
+			.map((child, index) => ({ child, index, rank: rankChild(child) }))
+			.sort((a, b) => (
+				(a.rank < b.rank) ? 1 :
+				(a.rank > b.rank) ? -1 :
+				(a.index - b.index)
+			))
+			.map( vnode => {
+        let path = vnode.attributes.path,
+          matches = exec(url, path, vnode.attributes);
+        if (matches) {
+          if (invoke!==false) {
+            let newProps = { url, matches };
+            // copy matches onto props
+            for (let i in matches) {
+              if (matches.hasOwnProperty(i)) {
+                newProps[i] = matches[i];
+              }
+            }
+            return cloneElement(vnode, newProps);
+          }
+          return vnode;
+        }
+        return false;
+      }).filter(Boolean);
 	}
 
 	render({ children, onChange }, { url }) {
diff --git a/src/util.js b/src/util.js
index 7e433f1e..4b5e79ad 100644
--- a/src/util.js
+++ b/src/util.js
@@ -2,24 +2,16 @@
 const EMPTY = {};
 
 export function exec(url, route, opts=EMPTY) {
-	let reg = /(?:\?([^#]*))?(#.*)?$/,
-		c = url.match(reg),
+	let reg = /^([^?]*)(?:\?([^#]*))?(#.*)?$/,
+		[, pathname, search] = (url.match(reg) || []),
 		matches = {},
 		ret;
-	if (c && c[1]) {
-		let p = c[1].split('&');
-		for (let i=0; i<p.length; i++) {
-			let r = p[i].split('=');
-			matches[decodeURIComponent(r[0])] = decodeURIComponent(r.slice(1).join('='));
-		}
-	}
-	url = segmentize(url.replace(reg, ''));
+	url = segmentize(pathname);
 	route = segmentize(route || '');
 	let max = Math.max(url.length, route.length);
 	for (let i=0; i<max; i++) {
 		if (route[i] && route[i].charAt(0)===':') {
-			let param = route[i].replace(/(^\:|[+*?]+$)/g, ''),
-				flags = (route[i].match(/[+*?]+$/) || EMPTY)[0] || '',
+			let [, param, flags] = /^:(.*?)([+*?]*)$/.exec(route[i]),
 				plus = ~flags.indexOf('+'),
 				star = ~flags.indexOf('*'),
 				val = url[i] || '';
@@ -27,11 +19,11 @@ export function exec(url, route, opts=EMPTY) {
 				ret = false;
 				break;
 			}
-			matches[param] = decodeURIComponent(val);
-			if (plus || star) {
-				matches[param] = url.slice(i).map(decodeURIComponent).join('/');
+			else if (plus || star) {
+				matches[param] = decodeURIComponent(url.slice(i).join('/'));
 				break;
 			}
+			matches[param] = decodeURIComponent(val);
 		}
 		else if (route[i]!==url[i]) {
 			ret = false;
@@ -39,6 +31,18 @@ export function exec(url, route, opts=EMPTY) {
 		}
 	}
 	if (opts.default!==true && ret===false) return false;
+
+	if (search) {
+		const queryParams = {};
+		search.split('&').forEach(parameter => {
+			let [name, ...value] = parameter.split('=');
+			queryParams[decodeURIComponent(name)] = decodeURIComponent(value.join('='));
+		});
+		matches = {
+			...queryParams,
+			...matches
+		};
+	}
 	return matches;
 }
 
@@ -47,16 +51,28 @@ export function pathRankSort(a, b) {
 		bAttr = b.attributes || EMPTY;
 	if (aAttr.default) return 1;
 	if (bAttr.default) return -1;
-	let diff = rank(aAttr.path) - rank(bAttr.path);
-	return diff || (aAttr.path.length - bAttr.path.length);
+	let aRank = rank(aAttr.path),
+		bRank = rank(bAttr.path);
+	return (aRank < bRank) ? 1 :
+		(aRank == bRank) ? 0 :
+		-1;
 }
 
 export function segmentize(url) {
 	return strip(url).split('/');
 }
 
-export function rank(url) {
-	return (strip(url).match(/\/+/g) || '').length;
+export const rankSegment = (segment) => {
+	let [, isParam, , flag] = /^(:?)(.*?)([*+?]?)$/.exec(segment);
+	return isParam ? ('0*+?'.indexOf(flag) || 4) : 5;
+};
+
+export const rank = (path) => (
+	segmentize(path).map(rankSegment).join('')
+);
+
+export function rankChild({ attributes=EMPTY }) {
+	return attributes.default ? '0' : rank(attributes.path);
 }
 
 export function strip(url) {
diff --git a/test/util.js b/test/util.js
index 9942a70e..22802c5b 100644
--- a/test/util.js
+++ b/test/util.js
@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ describe('util', () => {
 	});
 
 	describe('rank', () => {
-		it('should return number of path segments', () => {
-			expect(rank('')).to.equal(0);
-			expect(rank('/')).to.equal(0);
-			expect(rank('//')).to.equal(0);
-			expect(rank('a/b/c')).to.equal(2);
-			expect(rank('/a/b/c/')).to.equal(2);
+		it('should return rank of path segments', () => {
+			expect(rank('')).to.eql('5');
+			expect(rank('/')).to.eql('5');
+			expect(rank('//')).to.eql('5');
+			expect(rank('a/b/c')).to.eql('555');
+			expect(rank('/a/b/c/')).to.eql('555');
+			expect(rank('/:a/b?/:c?/:d*/:e+')).to.eql('45312');
 		});
 	});
 
@@ -39,13 +40,13 @@ describe('util', () => {
 	});
 
 	describe('pathRankSort', () => {
-		it('should sort by segment count', () => {
+		it('should sort by highest rank first', () => {
 			let paths = arr => arr.map( path => ({attributes:{path}}) );
 
 			expect(
-				paths(['/a/b/','/a/b','/','b']).sort(pathRankSort)
+				paths(['/:a*','/a','/:a+','/:a?','/a/:b*']).sort(pathRankSort)
 			).to.eql(
-				paths(['/','b','/a/b','/a/b/'])
+				paths(['/a/:b*','/a','/:a?','/:a+','/:a*'])
 			);
 		});
 
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ describe('util', () => {
 			expect(
 				p.sort(pathRankSort)
 			).to.eql(
-				paths(['/','b','/a/b','/a/b/']).concat(defaultPath)
+				paths(['/a/b/','/a/b','/','b']).concat(defaultPath)
 			);
 		});
 	});
@@ -101,5 +102,10 @@ describe('util', () => {
 			expect(exec('/a/b', '/:foo+')).to.eql({ foo:'a/b' });
 			expect(exec('/a/b/c', '/:foo+')).to.eql({ foo:'a/b/c' });
 		});
+
+		it('should handle query-string', () => {
+			expect(exec('/?foo=bar', '/')).to.eql({ foo: 'bar' });
+			expect(exec('/a?foo=bar', '/:foo')).to.eql({ foo: 'a' });
+		});
 	});
 });