diff --git a/searx/settings_loader.py b/searx/settings_loader.py
index 172069bd..5dbeb4a9 100644
--- a/searx/settings_loader.py
+++ b/searx/settings_loader.py
@@ -57,7 +57,10 @@ def update_settings(default_settings, user_settings):
     # merge everything except the engines
     for k, v in user_settings.items():
         if k not in ('use_default_settings', 'engines'):
-            update_dict(default_settings[k], v)
+            if k in default_settings:
+                update_dict(default_settings[k], v)
+            else:
+                default_settings[k] = v
 
     # parse the engines
     remove_engines = None
diff --git a/tests/unit/settings/user_settings_simple.yml b/tests/unit/settings/user_settings_simple.yml
index 36e5f164..bc6ed0cf 100644
--- a/tests/unit/settings/user_settings_simple.yml
+++ b/tests/unit/settings/user_settings_simple.yml
@@ -4,3 +4,6 @@ server:
     bind_address: "0.0.0.0"
     default_http_headers:
         Custom-Header: Custom-Value
+result_proxy:
+   url : https://localhost/morty
+   key : "$ecretKey"