diff --git a/data/common/common.yaml b/data/common/common.yaml
--- a/data/common/common.yaml
+++ b/data/common/common.yaml
@@ -2054,11 +2054,14 @@
   server_url: "https://%{hiera('keycloak::vhost::name')}/auth/"
   realm_name: SoftwareHeritage
 
+swh::deploy::webapp::metadata_search_backend: swh-indexer-storage
+
 # in private data:
 # deposit_basic_auth_swhworker_username
 # deposit_basic_auth_swhworker_password
 swh::deploy::webapp::config:
   search: "%{alias('swh::remote_service::search::config')}"
+  metadata_search_backend: "%{alias('swh::deploy::webapp::metadata_search_backend')}"
   storage: "%{alias('swh::remote_service::storage::config')}"
   vault: "%{alias('swh::remote_service::vault::config::writable')}"
   indexer_storage: "%{alias('swh::remote_service::indexer::config')}"
diff --git a/data/deployments/staging/common.yaml b/data/deployments/staging/common.yaml
--- a/data/deployments/staging/common.yaml
+++ b/data/deployments/staging/common.yaml
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@
 # tasks associated to save code now request. Modifying this so the staging
 # webapp does not access the production indexes
 swh::deploy::webapp::config::es_workers_index_url: http://search-esnode0.internal.staging.swh.network:9200/swh_workers-*
+swh::deploy::webapp::metadata_search_backend: swh-search
 
 swh::deploy::search::journal_client::service_types:
   - objects
diff --git a/data/hostname/webapp1.internal.softwareheritage.org.yaml b/data/hostname/webapp1.internal.softwareheritage.org.yaml
--- a/data/hostname/webapp1.internal.softwareheritage.org.yaml
+++ b/data/hostname/webapp1.internal.softwareheritage.org.yaml
@@ -16,3 +16,5 @@
 
 swh::deploy::reverse_proxy::services:
   - webapp
+
+swh::deploy::webapp::metadata_search_backend: swh-search