diff --git a/deps/db/src/logseq/db/file_based/rules.cljc b/deps/db/src/logseq/db/file_based/rules.cljc
index afc70dfb71..bc0aa6079d 100644
--- a/deps/db/src/logseq/db/file_based/rules.cljc
+++ b/deps/db/src/logseq/db/file_based/rules.cljc
@@ -88,6 +88,5 @@
          [(contains? ?v ?str-val)])]
 
    :page-ref
-   '[(page-ref ?b ?page-name)
-     [?br :block/name ?page-name]
-     (has-ref ?b ?br)]})
+   '[(page-ref ?b ?ref)
+     (has-ref ?b ?ref)]})
diff --git a/deps/db/src/logseq/db/frontend/rules.cljc b/deps/db/src/logseq/db/frontend/rules.cljc
index ac61faedb7..60df8e372e 100644
--- a/deps/db/src/logseq/db/frontend/rules.cljc
+++ b/deps/db/src/logseq/db/frontend/rules.cljc
@@ -33,9 +33,8 @@
       [?e2 :block/alias ?e3]]]
 
    :self-ref
-   '[(self-ref ?b ?page-name)
-     [?br :block/name ?page-name]
-     [?b :block/refs ?br]]
+   '[(self-ref ?b ?ref)
+     [?b :block/refs ?ref]]
 
    :has-ref
    '[[(has-ref ?b ?r)
diff --git a/src/main/frontend/db/query_dsl.cljs b/src/main/frontend/db/query_dsl.cljs
index 18c10c0e59..bf0b2fc665 100644
--- a/src/main/frontend/db/query_dsl.cljs
+++ b/src/main/frontend/db/query_dsl.cljs
@@ -499,16 +499,20 @@
 (defn- build-page-ref
   [e]
   (let [page-name (-> (page-ref/get-page-name! e)
-                      (util/page-name-sanity-lc))]
-    {:query (list 'page-ref '?b page-name)
-     :rules [:page-ref]}))
+                      (util/page-name-sanity-lc))
+        page (ldb/get-page (db-conn/get-db) page-name)]
+    (when page
+      {:query (list 'page-ref '?b (:db/id page))
+       :rules [:page-ref]})))
 
 (defn- build-self-ref
   [e]
   (let [page-name (-> (page-ref/get-page-name! e)
-                      (util/page-name-sanity-lc))]
-    {:query (list 'self-ref '?b page-name)
-     :rules [:self-ref]}))
+                      (util/page-name-sanity-lc))
+        page (ldb/get-page (db-conn/get-db) page-name)]
+    (when page
+      {:query (list 'self-ref '?b (:db/id page))
+       :rules [:self-ref]})))
 
 (defn- build-block-content [e]
   {:query (list 'block-content '?b e)
diff --git a/src/test/frontend/db/query_dsl_test.cljs b/src/test/frontend/db/query_dsl_test.cljs
index 2bca533917..79467e7d74 100644
--- a/src/test/frontend/db/query_dsl_test.cljs
+++ b/src/test/frontend/db/query_dsl_test.cljs
@@ -611,8 +611,7 @@ prop-d:: [[nada]]"}])
            (map testable-content (dsl-query "#tag1")))
         "Tag arg")
 
-    (is (= []
-           (dsl-query "[[blarg]]"))
+    (is (empty? (dsl-query "[[blarg]]"))
         "Nonexistent page returns no results"))
 
   (testing "basic boolean queries"