diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/IPublishedContentQuery.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/IPublishedContentQuery.cs
index c4d829968f..7066475dc9 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/IPublishedContentQuery.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/IPublishedContentQuery.cs
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web
         /// </para>
         /// <para>While enumerating results, the ambient culture is changed to be the searched culture.</para>
         /// </remarks>
-        IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, string culture = "*", string indexName = null);
+        IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, string culture = "*", string indexName = Constants.UmbracoIndexes.ExternalIndexName);
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Searches content.
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web
         /// </para>
         /// <para>While enumerating results, the ambient culture is changed to be the searched culture.</para>
         /// </remarks>
-        IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, int skip, int take, out long totalRecords, string culture = "*", string indexName = null);
+        IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, int skip, int take, out long totalRecords, string culture = "*", string indexName = Constants.UmbracoIndexes.ExternalIndexName);
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Executes the query and converts the results to <see cref="PublishedSearchResult" />.
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/PublishedContentQuery.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/PublishedContentQuery.cs
index 833df9971b..44a3208956 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/PublishedContentQuery.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/PublishedContentQuery.cs
@@ -183,13 +183,13 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web
         #region Search
 
         /// <inheritdoc />
-        public IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, string culture = "*", string indexName = null)
+        public IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, string culture = "*", string indexName = Constants.UmbracoIndexes.ExternalIndexName)
         {
             return Search(term, 0, 0, out _, culture, indexName);
         }
 
         /// <inheritdoc />
-        public IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, int skip, int take, out long totalRecords, string culture = "*", string indexName = null)
+        public IEnumerable<PublishedSearchResult> Search(string term, int skip, int take, out long totalRecords, string culture = "*", string indexName = Constants.UmbracoIndexes.ExternalIndexName)
         {
             if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(indexName))
             {
@@ -319,9 +319,6 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web
             }
         }
 
-
-
-
         #endregion
     }
 }