diff --git a/test/js-mocha-specs.js b/test/js-mocha-specs.js
index 335fa76..8ef7ce7 100644
--- a/test/js-mocha-specs.js
+++ b/test/js-mocha-specs.js
@@ -191,9 +191,9 @@ describe('URL util', function () {
 
   it('serializes query params correctly with URL encoding enabled', () => {
     util.serializeQueryParams({
-      param1: 'value with spaces',
-      param2: 'value with special character äöü%&'
-    }, true).should.equal('param1=value%20with%20spaces&param2=value%20with%20special%20character%20%C3%A4%C3%B6%C3%BC%25%26');
+      'param 1': 'value with spaces',
+      'param 2': 'value with special character äöü%&'
+    }, true).should.equal('param%201=value%20with%20spaces&param%202=value%20with%20special%20character%20%C3%A4%C3%B6%C3%BC%25%26');
   });
 
   it('serializes array of query params correctly', () => {
diff --git a/www/url-util.js b/www/url-util.js
index f05831c..802af01 100644
--- a/www/url-util.js
+++ b/www/url-util.js
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ module.exports = function init(helpers) {
 
   function serializeIdentifier(parentKey, key, encode) {
     if (!parentKey.length) {
-      return key;
+      return encode ? encodeURIComponent(key) : key;
     }
 
     if (encode) {