diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 539df96..3533ef7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ target/*
 .classpath
 .project
 bin/
+/target
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index af604f8..1a6605b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -89,11 +89,13 @@ Below is a simple example of searching documents.
 ```java
 AmazonCloudSearchQuery query = new AmazonCloudSearchQuery();
 query.query = "Dining Tables";
-query.returnFields = "title,sku_no,description";
-query.start = 20;
-query.size = 20;
-query.addExpression("sort_expr","(0.3*popularity)+(0.7*_score)");
-query.sort("sort_expr", "desc");
+query.queryParser = "simple";
+query.start = 0;
+query.size = 16;
+query.setDefaultOperator("or");
+query.setFields("sku_no^11", "title^10", "description^9", "features^8", "specification^8", "categories^7");
+query.addExpression("sort_expr", "(0.3*popularity)+(0.7*_score)");
+query.addSort("sort_expr", "desc");
 
 AmazonCloudSearchResult result = client.search(query);
 ```
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1eafd57..22be305 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -40,4 +40,23 @@
       <version>4.2</version>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
+  
+  <build>
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
+        <version>1.5</version>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>sign-artifacts</id>
+            <phase>verify</phase>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>sign</goal>
+            </goals>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/AmazonCloudSearchClient.java b/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/AmazonCloudSearchClient.java
index c989794..6d5b973 100644
--- a/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/AmazonCloudSearchClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/AmazonCloudSearchClient.java
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ public AmazonCloudSearchClient(AWSCredentialsProvider awsCredentialsProvider, Cl
 	public void addDocument(AmazonCloudSearchAddRequest document) throws AmazonCloudSearchRequestException, AmazonCloudSearchInternalServerException, JSONException {
 		JSONArray docs = new JSONArray();
 		docs.put(toJSON(document));
+		updateDocumentRequest(docs.toString());
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -200,6 +201,7 @@ public void addDocuments(List<AmazonCloudSearchAddRequest> documents) throws JSO
 		for(AmazonCloudSearchAddRequest doc : documents) {
 			docs.put(toJSON(doc));
 		}
+		updateDocumentRequest(docs.toString());
 	}
 	
 	
@@ -374,7 +376,7 @@ public AmazonCloudSearchResult search(AmazonCloudSearchQuery query) throws Illeg
 		AmazonCloudSearchResult result = null;
 		
 		try {
-			Response response = Request.Post("https://" + getSearchEndpoint() + "/2013-01-01/search?" + query.build())
+			Response response = Request.Get("https://" + getSearchEndpoint() + "/2013-01-01/search?" + query.build())
 			        .useExpectContinue()
 			        .version(HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1)
 			        .addHeader("Accept", ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON.getMimeType())
@@ -415,25 +417,26 @@ private AmazonCloudSearchResult fromJSON(String responseBody) throws JSONExcepti
 		if(hits != null) {
 			result.found = hits.getInt("found");
 			result.start = hits.getInt("start");
-			
-			JSONArray hitArray = root.getJSONArray("hit");
-			if(hitArray != null) {
-				for(int i = 0; i < hitArray.length(); i++) {
-					JSONObject row = hitArray.getJSONObject(i);
-					Hit hit = new Hit();
-					hit.id = row.getString("id");
-					JSONObject fields = row.getJSONObject("fields");
-					String[] names = JSONObject.getNames(fields);
-					for(String name : names) {
-						if(hit.fields == null) {
-							hit.fields = new HashMap<String, String>();
+			if(result.found > 0) {
+				JSONArray hitArray = hits.getJSONArray("hit");
+				if(hitArray != null) {
+					for(int i = 0; i < hitArray.length(); i++) {
+						JSONObject row = hitArray.getJSONObject(i);
+						Hit hit = new Hit();
+						hit.id = row.getString("id");
+						JSONObject fields = row.getJSONObject("fields");
+						String[] names = JSONObject.getNames(fields);
+						for(String name : names) {
+							if(hit.fields == null) {
+								hit.fields = new HashMap<String, String>();
+							}
+							hit.fields.put(name, fields.getString(name));
 						}
-						hit.fields.put(name, fields.getString(name));
-					}
-					if(result.hits == null) {
-						result.hits = new ArrayList<Hit>();
+						if(result.hits == null) {
+							result.hits = new ArrayList<Hit>();
+						}
+						result.hits.add(hit);
 					}
-					result.hits.add(hit);
 				}
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/search/AmazonCloudSearchQuery.java b/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/search/AmazonCloudSearchQuery.java
index e0f4d8a..ff88251 100644
--- a/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/search/AmazonCloudSearchQuery.java
+++ b/src/main/java/aws/services/cloudsearchv2/search/AmazonCloudSearchQuery.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package aws.services.cloudsearchv2.search;
 
+import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.net.URLEncoder;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -313,11 +315,11 @@ public void setReturnFields(String ... returnFields) {
 		this.returnFields = builder.toString();
 	}	
 	
-	public String build() {
+	public String build() throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
 		StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
 		
 		if(cursor != null) {
-			builder.append("cursor").append("=").append(cursor);
+			builder.append("cursor").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(cursor, "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		if(expressions.size() > 0) {
@@ -325,7 +327,7 @@ public String build() {
 				if(builder.length() > 0) {
 					builder.append("&");
 				}
-				builder.append(entry.getKey()).append("=").append(entry.getValue());
+				builder.append("expr").append(".").append(entry.getKey()).append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getValue(), "UTF-8"));
 			}
 		}
 		
@@ -334,17 +336,23 @@ public String build() {
 				if(builder.length() > 0) {
 					builder.append("&");
 				}
-				builder.append("facet").append(".").append(facet.field).append("=").append("{");
+				builder.append("facet").append(".").append(facet.field).append("=");
+				
+				StringBuilder value = new StringBuilder();
+				value.append("{");
 				if(facet.sort != null) {
-					builder.append("sort").append(":").append("\"").append(facet.sort).append("\"");
+					value.append("sort").append(":").append("\"").append(facet.sort).append("\"");
 				}
 				if(facet.buckets != null) {
-					builder.append("buckets").append(":").append(facet.buckets);
+					value.append("buckets").append(":").append(facet.buckets);
 				}
 				if(facet.size != null) {
-					builder.append("size").append(":").append(facet.size);
+					value.append("size").append(":").append(facet.size);
 				}
-				builder.append("}");
+				
+				value.append("}");
+				
+				builder.append(URLEncoder.encode(value.toString(), "UTF-8"));
 			}
 		}
 		
@@ -361,20 +369,26 @@ public String build() {
 				if(builder.length() > 0) {
 					builder.append("&");
 				}
-				builder.append("highlight").append(".").append(highlight.field).append("=").append("{");
+				builder.append("highlight").append(".").append(highlight.field).append("=");
+				
+				StringBuilder value = new StringBuilder();
+				value.append("{");
 				if(highlight.format != null) {
-					builder.append("format").append(":").append("'").append(highlight.format).append("'");
+					value.append("format").append(":").append("'").append(highlight.format).append("'");
 				}
 				if(highlight.maxPhrases != null) {
-					builder.append("max_phrases").append(":").append(highlight.maxPhrases);
+					value.append("max_phrases").append(":").append(highlight.maxPhrases);
 				}
 				if(highlight.preTag != null) {
-					builder.append("pre_tag").append(":").append("'").append(highlight.preTag).append("'");
+					value.append("pre_tag").append(":").append("'").append(highlight.preTag).append("'");
 				}
 				if(highlight.postTag != null) {
-					builder.append("post_tag").append(":").append("'").append(highlight.postTag).append("'");
+					value.append("post_tag").append(":").append("'").append(highlight.postTag).append("'");
 				}
-				builder.append("}");
+				value.append("}");
+				
+				builder.append(URLEncoder.encode(value.toString(), "UTF-8"));
+
 			}
 		}
 		
@@ -382,75 +396,87 @@ public String build() {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("partial").append("=").append(partial);
+			builder.append("partial").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(partial + "", "UTF-8"));
 		}	
 
 		if(pretty != null) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("pretty").append("=").append(pretty);
+			builder.append("pretty").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(pretty + "", "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		if(query != null) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("q").append("=").append(query);
+			builder.append("q").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(query, "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		if(queryOptions.size() > 0) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("q").append(".").append("options").append("=").append("{");
+			
+			builder.append("q").append(".").append("options").append("=");
+			
+			StringBuilder value = new StringBuilder();
+			value.append("{");
 			for(Map.Entry<String, String> entry : queryOptions.entrySet()) {
-				builder.append(entry.getKey()).append(":").append(entry.getValue());
+				value.append(entry.getKey()).append(":").append("'").append(entry.getValue()).append("'");
 			}
-			builder.append("}");
+			value.append("}");
+
+			builder.append(URLEncoder.encode(value.toString(), "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		if(queryParser != null) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("q.parser").append("=").append(queryParser);
+			builder.append("q.parser").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(queryParser, "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		if(returnFields != null) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("return").append("=").append(returnFields);
+			builder.append("return").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(returnFields, "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		if(size != null) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("size").append("=").append(size);
+			builder.append("size").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(size + "", "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		if(sort.size() > 0) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
+			
 			builder.append("sort").append("=");
+			
+			StringBuilder value = new StringBuilder();
 			int i = 0;
 			for(Map.Entry<String, String> entry : sort.entrySet()) {
-				builder.append(entry.getKey()).append(" ").append(entry.getValue());
+				value.append(entry.getKey()).append(" ").append(entry.getValue());
 				if(i != sort.size() - 1) {
-					builder.append(",");
+					value.append(",");
 
 				}
 			}
+			
+			builder.append(URLEncoder.encode(value.toString(), "UTF-8"));
 		}		
 		
 		if(start != null) {
 			if(builder.length() > 0) {
+				
 				builder.append("&");
 			}
-			builder.append("start").append("=").append(start);
+			builder.append("start").append("=").append(URLEncoder.encode(start + "", "UTF-8"));
 		}
 		
 		return builder.toString();
diff --git a/target/amazon-cloudsearch-client-1.1.jar b/target/amazon-cloudsearch-client-1.1.jar
index 318a9af..f03c5e3 100644
Binary files a/target/amazon-cloudsearch-client-1.1.jar and b/target/amazon-cloudsearch-client-1.1.jar differ