rewrite stripping "+" from query string

We have the rewrite rules setup as the out of the box default.
We're including some links in an article system that are running parameterized queries in photoplog to bring up matching pictures. The problem comes in when we're running a query like:

search.php?do=view&searchquery=example1+example2

It works fine if you put it directly in the browser, but if it's a link in a GARS based article (essentially a vB post) vBSEO strips out the "+" and it doesn't work at all. Is there a way to tell vBSEO to leave the + alone without breaking the rest of our URL rewriting patterns?

Hope that made sense...

James and Susan

Hello,

are you using Custom Rewrite Rule for these links?