diff --git a/lib/ace/mode/asciidoc_highlight_rules.js b/lib/ace/mode/asciidoc_highlight_rules.js
index 24eeafd7..032cadf4 100644
--- a/lib/ace/mode/asciidoc_highlight_rules.js
+++ b/lib/ace/mode/asciidoc_highlight_rules.js
@@ -163,8 +163,9 @@ var AsciidocHighlightRules = function() {
         "macros": [
             {token: "macro", regex: /{[\w\-$]+}/},
             {token: ["text", "string", "text", "constant.character", "text"], regex: /({)([\w\-$]+)(:)?(.+)?(})/},
-            {token: ["markup.list.macro", "keyword", "string"], regex: /([\w\.\/\-]+::?)([^\s\[]+)(\[.*?\])?/},
-            {token: ["markup.list.macro", "keyword"], regex: /([\w\.\/\-]+::?)(\[.*?\])/},
+            {token: ["text", "markup.list.macro", "keyword", "string"], regex: /(\w+)(footnote(?:ref)?::?)([^\s\[]+)?(\[.*?\])?/},
+            {token: ["markup.list.macro", "keyword", "string"], regex: /([a-zA-Z\-][\w\.\/\-]*::?)([^\s\[]+)(\[.*?\])?/},
+            {token: ["markup.list.macro", "keyword"], regex: /([a-zA-Z\-][\w\.\/\-]+::?)(\[.*?\])/},
             {token: "keyword",     regex: /^:.+?:(?= |$)/}
         ],