diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Inlines.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Inlines.hs
index b234bee58..0330cf55f 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Inlines.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Org/Inlines.hs
@@ -477,17 +477,17 @@ linkToInlinesF linkStr =
 
 internalLink :: Text -> Inlines -> F Inlines
 internalLink link title = do
-  anchorB <- (link `elem`) <$> asksF orgStateAnchorIds
-  if anchorB
+  ids <- asksF orgStateAnchorIds
+  if link `elem` ids
     then return $ B.link ("#" <> link) "" title
-    else return $ B.emph title
+    else let attr' = ("", ["spurious-link"] , [("target", link)])
+         in return $ B.spanWith attr' (B.emph title)
 
 -- | Parse an anchor like @<<anchor-id>>@ and return an empty span with
 -- @anchor-id@ set as id.  Legal anchors in org-mode are defined through
 -- @org-target-regexp@, which is fairly liberal.  Since no link is created if
 -- @anchor-id@ contains spaces, we are more restrictive in what is accepted as
 -- an anchor.
-
 anchor :: PandocMonad m => OrgParser m (F Inlines)
 anchor =  try $ do
   anchorId <- parseAnchor
@@ -501,7 +501,6 @@ anchor =  try $ do
 
 -- | Replace every char but [a-zA-Z0-9_.-:] with a hyphen '-'.  This mirrors
 -- the org function @org-export-solidify-link-text@.
-
 solidify :: Text -> Text
 solidify = T.map replaceSpecialChar
  where replaceSpecialChar c
diff --git a/test/Tests/Readers/Org/Meta.hs b/test/Tests/Readers/Org/Meta.hs
index 041016f64..bc167f2a5 100644
--- a/test/Tests/Readers/Org/Meta.hs
+++ b/test/Tests/Readers/Org/Meta.hs
@@ -270,7 +270,8 @@ tests =
 
   , "Search links are read as emph" =:
       "[[Wally][Where's Wally?]]" =?>
-      para (emph $ "Where's" <> space <> "Wally?")
+      para (spanWith ("", ["spurious-link"], [("target", "Wally")])
+                     (emph $ "Where's" <> space <> "Wally?"))
 
   , "Link to nonexistent anchor" =:
       T.unlines [ "<<link-here>> Target."
@@ -278,5 +279,6 @@ tests =
                 , "[[link$here][See here!]]"
                 ] =?>
       (para (spanWith ("link-here", [], []) mempty <> "Target.") <>
-       para (emph ("See" <> space <> "here!")))
+       para (spanWith ("", ["spurious-link"], [("target", "link$here")])
+                      (emph ("See" <> space <> "here!"))))
   ]