diff --git a/swh/web/common/service.py b/swh/web/common/service.py
--- a/swh/web/common/service.py
+++ b/swh/web/common/service.py
@@ -279,11 +279,9 @@
     for match in matches:
         match['from_revision'] = hashutil.hash_to_hex(match['from_revision'])
 
+        origin = None
         if match['origin_url']:
             origin = storage.origin_get({'url': match['origin_url']})
-        else:
-            # Fallback to origin-id for idx-storage with outdated db
-            origin = storage.origin_get({'id': match['id']})
 
         del match['origin_url']
         if 'id' in match:
diff --git a/swh/web/tests/api/views/test_origin.py b/swh/web/tests/api/views/test_origin.py
--- a/swh/web/tests/api/views/test_origin.py
+++ b/swh/web/tests/api/views/test_origin.py
@@ -634,3 +634,33 @@
 
         self.assertEqual(rv.status_code, 400, rv.content)
         mock_idx_storage.assert_not_called()
+
+    def test_api_origin_metadata_search_missing_origin_url(self):
+        with patch('swh.web.common.service.idx_storage') as mock_idx_storage:
+            mock_idx_storage.origin_intrinsic_metadata_search_fulltext \
+                .side_effect = lambda conjunction, limit: [{
+                    'from_revision': (
+                        b'p&\xb7\xc1\xa2\xafVR\x1e\x95\x1c\x01\xed '
+                        b'\xf2U\xfa\x05B8'),
+                    'metadata': {'author': 'Jane Doe'},
+                    'origin_url': None,
+                    'tool': {
+                        'configuration': {
+                            'context': ['NpmMapping', 'CodemetaMapping'],
+                            'type': 'local'
+                        },
+                        'id': 3,
+                        'name': 'swh-metadata-detector',
+                        'version': '0.0.1'
+                    }
+                }]
+
+            url = reverse('api-1-origin-metadata-search',
+                          query_params={'fulltext': 'Jane Doe'})
+            rv = self.client.get(url)
+
+            self.assertEqual(rv.status_code, 200, rv.content)
+            self.assertEqual(rv['Content-Type'], 'application/json')
+            self.assertEqual(len(rv.data), 0)
+            mock_idx_storage.origin_intrinsic_metadata_search_fulltext \
+                .assert_called_with(conjunction=['Jane Doe'], limit=70)