diff --git a/pywb/rewrite/regex_rewriters.py b/pywb/rewrite/regex_rewriters.py
index f17b5f24..b0adc383 100644
--- a/pywb/rewrite/regex_rewriters.py
+++ b/pywb/rewrite/regex_rewriters.py
@@ -132,9 +132,7 @@ class JSLocationRewriterMixin(object):
     def __init__(self, rewriter, rules=[], prefix='WB_wombat_'):
         rules = rules + [
           #  (r'(?<![/$])\blocation\b(?!\":)', RegexRewriter.add_prefix(prefix), 0),
-          (r'(?<![/$\'"-])\b(?:location|top)\b(?!(?:\":|:|=\d|-))', RegexRewriter.add_prefix(prefix), 0),
-
-          (r'(?<=[?])location[:]', RegexRewriter.add_prefix(prefix), 0),
+          (r'(?<![$\'"])\b(?:location|top)\b(?![$\'"])', RegexRewriter.add_prefix(prefix), 0),
 
           (r'(?<=\.)postMessage\b\(', RegexRewriter.add_prefix('__WB_pmw(window).'), 0),
 
diff --git a/pywb/rewrite/test/test_regex_rewriters.py b/pywb/rewrite/test/test_regex_rewriters.py
index 2762b9d0..5523fac2 100644
--- a/pywb/rewrite/test/test_regex_rewriters.py
+++ b/pywb/rewrite/test/test_regex_rewriters.py
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ r"""
 >>> _test_js('cool_Location = "http://example.com/abc.html"')
 'cool_Location = "/web/20131010/http://example.com/abc.html"'
 
+>>> _test_js('$location = cond ? a.location: location; location$')
+'$location = cond ? a.WB_wombat_location: WB_wombat_location; location$'
+
 # not rewriting WB_wombat_domain
 #>>> _test_js('window.location = "http://example.com/abc.html" document.domain = "anotherdomain.com"')
 #'window.WB_wombat_location = "/web/20131010/http://example.com/abc.html" document.WB_wombat_domain = "anotherdomain.com"'