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Can the interface for searching with tags be improved?

To me, the visual cues when I'm searching with tags are pretty weak or conflicting. Here are some examples of what I mean:

  • When I search for a word, I see that word in the box at the top of my search results, when I search for a tag, the tag names are displayed lower down, in the part I (and maybe others) usually skip between the search box and the list of results.

  • When searching with tags, the tag names are printed, but they're not displayed as "tags" the way they are elsewhere on the site.

Suggestions: maybe parse the search text so that "tag:word" in the search box searches for the tag named "word", and use this to indicate to the user when a tag is being searched for. Or instead, maybe display the tags that are being searched immediately below the search box, maybe a little bigger than usual (if that's easy), and maybe with little "x"'s near them so they can be individually excluded from search too.

Ok; sorry for the rambling, not-totally-explained question/suggestion; Let me know if I should try to clarify.

Can the interface for searching with tags be improved?

To me, the visual cues when I'm searching with tags are pretty weak or conflicting. Here are some examples of what I mean:

  • When I search for a word, I see that word in the box at the top of my search results, when I search for a tag, the tag names are displayed lower down, in the part I (and maybe others) usually skip between the search box and the list of results.

  • When searching with tags, the tag names are printed, but they're not displayed as "tags" the way they are elsewhere on the site.

Suggestions: maybe parse the search text so that "tag:word" in the search box searches for the tag named "word", and use this to indicate to the user when a tag is being searched for. Or instead, maybe display the tags that are being searched immediately below the search box, maybe a little bigger than usual (if that's easy), and maybe with little "x"'s near them so they can be individually excluded from search too.

Ok; sorry for the rambling, not-totally-explained question/suggestion; Let me know if I should try to clarify.