diff --git src/js/_enqueues/lib/link.js src/js/_enqueues/lib/link.js
index 7c8c498..10eb3e0 100644
--- src/js/_enqueues/lib/link.js
+++ src/js/_enqueues/lib/link.js
@@ -507,9 +507,10 @@
 
 		searchInternalLinks: function() {
 			var waiting,
-				search = inputs.search.val() || '';
+				search = inputs.search.val() || '',
+				searchLength = parseInt( wpLinkL10n.minimumSearchWordLength, 10 );
 
-			if ( search.length > 2 ) {
+			if ( search.length >= searchLength ) {
 				rivers.recent.hide();
 				rivers.search.show();
 
diff --git src/wp-includes/script-loader.php src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
index fa8b60b..331e71c 100644
--- src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
+++ src/wp-includes/script-loader.php
@@ -1387,17 +1387,27 @@ function wp_default_scripts( &$scripts ) {
 	$scripts->add( 'admin-bar', "/wp-includes/js/admin-bar$suffix.js", array(), false, 1 );
 
 	$scripts->add( 'wplink', "/wp-includes/js/wplink$suffix.js", array( 'jquery', 'wp-a11y' ), false, 1 );
+
+	/* translators: Input word length for incremental post search. Start searching from the number. */
+	$minimum_search_word_length = _x( '3', 'minimum length for searching links' );
+	if ( ! empty( $minimum_search_word_length ) && is_numeric( $minimum_search_word_length ) ) {
+		$minimum_search_word_length = absint( $minimum_search_word_length );
+	} else {
+		$minimum_search_word_length = 3;
+	}
+
 	did_action( 'init' ) && $scripts->localize(
 		'wplink',
 		'wpLinkL10n',
 		array(
-			'title'          => __( 'Insert/edit link' ),
-			'update'         => __( 'Update' ),
-			'save'           => __( 'Add Link' ),
-			'noTitle'        => __( '(no title)' ),
-			'noMatchesFound' => __( 'No results found.' ),
-			'linkSelected'   => __( 'Link selected.' ),
-			'linkInserted'   => __( 'Link inserted.' ),
+			'title'                   => __( 'Insert/edit link' ),
+			'update'                  => __( 'Update' ),
+			'save'                    => __( 'Add Link' ),
+			'noTitle'                 => __( '(no title)' ),
+			'noMatchesFound'          => __( 'No results found.' ),
+			'linkSelected'            => __( 'Link selected.' ),
+			'linkInserted'            => __( 'Link inserted.' ),
+			'minimumSearchWordLength' => $minimum_search_word_length,
 		)
 	);