diff --git a/swh/indexer/indexer.py b/swh/indexer/indexer.py
--- a/swh/indexer/indexer.py
+++ b/swh/indexer/indexer.py
@@ -484,8 +484,8 @@
     class.
 
     """
-    def run(self, ids, policy_update,
-            parse_ids=False, next_step=None, **kwargs):
+    def run(self, ids, policy_update='update-dups', parse_ids=True,
+            next_step=None, **kwargs):
         """Given a list of origin ids:
 
         - retrieve origins from storage
@@ -496,20 +496,18 @@
             ids ([Union[int, Tuple[str, bytes]]]): list of origin ids or
                                                    (type, url) tuples.
             policy_update (str): either 'update-dups' or 'ignore-dups' to
-                                   respectively update duplicates or ignore
-                                   them
-            parse_ids (bool: If `True`, will try to convert `ids`
-                               from a human input to the valid type.
+                                   respectively update duplicates (default)
+                                   or ignore them
             next_step (dict): a dict in the form expected by
                         `scheduler.backend.SchedulerBackend.create_tasks`
                         without `next_run`, plus a `result_name` key.
+            parse_ids (bool): Do we need to parse id or not (default)
             **kwargs: passed to the `index` method
 
         """
         if parse_ids:
-            ids = [
-                    o.split('+', 1) if ':' in o else int(o)  # type+url or id
-                    for o in ids]
+            ids = [o.split('+', 1) if ':' in o else int(o)  # type+url or id
+                   for o in ids]
 
         results = []
 
diff --git a/swh/indexer/metadata.py b/swh/indexer/metadata.py
--- a/swh/indexer/metadata.py
+++ b/swh/indexer/metadata.py
@@ -294,6 +294,7 @@
         # run() with the usual order, ie. origin ids first.
         return super().run(ids=list(origin_head_map),
                            policy_update=policy_update,
+                           parse_ids=False,
                            revisions_metadata=revisions_metadata,
                            origin_head_map=origin_head_map)
 
diff --git a/swh/indexer/origin_head.py b/swh/indexer/origin_head.py
--- a/swh/indexer/origin_head.py
+++ b/swh/indexer/origin_head.py
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@
               multiple=True)
 def main(origins):
     rev_metadata_indexer = OriginHeadIndexer()
-    rev_metadata_indexer.run(origins, 'update-dups', parse_ids=True)
+    rev_metadata_indexer.run(origins)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_head.py b/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_head.py
--- a/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_head.py
+++ b/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_head.py
@@ -42,8 +42,7 @@
     def test_git(self):
         indexer = OriginHeadTestIndexer()
         indexer.run(
-                ['git+https://github.com/SoftwareHeritage/swh-storage'],
-                'update-dups', parse_ids=True)
+                ['git+https://github.com/SoftwareHeritage/swh-storage'])
         self.assertEqual(indexer.results, [{
             'revision_id': b'8K\x12\x00d\x03\xcc\xe4]bS\xe3\x8f{'
                            b'\xd7}\xac\xefrm',
@@ -52,8 +51,7 @@
     def test_ftp(self):
         indexer = OriginHeadTestIndexer()
         indexer.run(
-                ['ftp+rsync://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/3dldf'],
-                'update-dups', parse_ids=True)
+                ['ftp+rsync://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/3dldf'])
         self.assertEqual(indexer.results, [{
             'revision_id': b'\x8e\xa9\x8e/\xea}\x9feF\xf4\x9f\xfd\xee'
                            b'\xcc\x1a\xb4`\x8c\x8by',
@@ -63,8 +61,7 @@
         indexer = OriginHeadTestIndexer()
         indexer.run(
                 ['deposit+https://forge.softwareheritage.org/source/'
-                 'jesuisgpl/'],
-                'update-dups', parse_ids=True)
+                 'jesuisgpl/'])
         self.assertEqual(indexer.results, [{
             'revision_id': b'\xe7n\xa4\x9c\x9f\xfb\xb7\xf76\x11\x08{'
                            b'\xa6\xe9\x99\xb1\x9e]q\xeb',
@@ -73,8 +70,7 @@
     def test_pypi(self):
         indexer = OriginHeadTestIndexer()
         indexer.run(
-                ['pypi+https://pypi.org/project/limnoria/'],
-                'update-dups', parse_ids=True)
+                ['pypi+https://pypi.org/project/limnoria/'])
         self.assertEqual(indexer.results, [{
             'revision_id': b'\x83\xb9\xb6\xc7\x05\xb1%\xd0\xfem\xd8k'
                            b'A\x10\x9d\xc5\xfa2\xf8t',
@@ -83,8 +79,7 @@
     def test_svn(self):
         indexer = OriginHeadTestIndexer()
         indexer.run(
-                ['svn+http://0-512-md.googlecode.com/svn/'],
-                'update-dups', parse_ids=True)
+                ['svn+http://0-512-md.googlecode.com/svn/'])
         self.assertEqual(indexer.results, [{
             'revision_id': b'\xe4?r\xe1,\x88\xab\xec\xe7\x9a\x87\xb8'
                            b'\xc9\xad#.\x1bw=\x18',
diff --git a/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_metadata.py b/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_metadata.py
--- a/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_metadata.py
+++ b/swh/indexer/tests/test_origin_metadata.py
@@ -86,10 +86,7 @@
     def test_pipeline(self):
         indexer = OriginHeadTestIndexer()
         indexer.scheduler = self.scheduler
-        indexer.run(
-                ["git+https://github.com/librariesio/yarn-parser"],
-                policy_update='update-dups',
-                parse_ids=True)
+        indexer.run(["git+https://github.com/librariesio/yarn-parser"])
 
         self.run_ready_tasks()  # Run the first task
         time.sleep(0.1)  # Give it time to complete and schedule the 2nd one