diff --git a/src/js/extensions/auto-link.js b/src/js/extensions/auto-link.js
index 708a9de23..1f2e8f316 100644
--- a/src/js/extensions/auto-link.js
+++ b/src/js/extensions/auto-link.js
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
     var WHITESPACE_CHARS,
         KNOWN_TLDS_FRAGMENT,
         LINK_REGEXP_TEXT,
-        KNOWN_TLDS_REGEXP;
+        KNOWN_TLDS_REGEXP,
+        LINK_REGEXP;
 
     WHITESPACE_CHARS = [' ', '\t', '\n', '\r', '\u00A0', '\u2000', '\u2001', '\u2002', '\u2003',
                                     '\u2028', '\u2029'];
@@ -26,6 +27,8 @@
 
     KNOWN_TLDS_REGEXP = new RegExp('^(' + KNOWN_TLDS_FRAGMENT + ')$', 'i');
 
+    LINK_REGEXP = new RegExp(LINK_REGEXP_TEXT, 'gi');
+
     function nodeIsNotInsideAnchorTag(node) {
         return !MediumEditor.util.getClosestTag(node, 'a');
     }
@@ -207,12 +210,11 @@
         },
 
         findLinkableText: function (contenteditable) {
-            var linkRegExp = new RegExp(LINK_REGEXP_TEXT, 'gi'),
-                textContent = contenteditable.textContent,
+            var textContent = contenteditable.textContent,
                 match = null,
                 matches = [];
 
-            while ((match = linkRegExp.exec(textContent)) !== null) {
+            while ((match = LINK_REGEXP.exec(textContent)) !== null) {
                 var matchOk = true,
                     matchEnd = match.index + match[0].length;
                 // If the regexp detected something as a link that has text immediately preceding/following it, bail out.