diff --git a/internal/ap/extract.go b/internal/ap/extract.go
index 8a1d99ce9..f6ba555a8 100644
--- a/internal/ap/extract.go
+++ b/internal/ap/extract.go
@@ -565,13 +565,10 @@ func ExtractMention(i Mentionable) (*gtsmodel.Mention, error) {
 	}
 
 	// just make sure the mention string is valid so we can handle it properly later on...
-	username, domain, err := util.ExtractMentionParts(mentionString)
+	_, _, err = util.ExtractMentionParts(mentionString)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	if username == "" || domain == "" {
-		return nil, errors.New("username or domain was empty")
-	}
 	mention.NameString = mentionString
 
 	// the href prop should be the AP URI of a user we know, eg https://example.org/users/whatever_user
diff --git a/internal/processing/search.go b/internal/processing/search.go
index a73315396..fbcfb02be 100644
--- a/internal/processing/search.go
+++ b/internal/processing/search.go
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func (p *processor) SearchGet(ctx context.Context, authed *oauth.Auth, searchQue
 
 	var foundOne bool
 	// check if the query is something like @whatever_username@example.org -- this means it's a remote account
-	if !foundOne && util.IsMention(searchQuery.Query) {
+	if _, domain, err := util.ExtractMentionParts(searchQuery.Query); err == nil && domain != "" {
 		l.Debug("search term is a mention, looking it up...")
 		foundAccount, err := p.searchAccountByMention(ctx, authed, searchQuery.Query, searchQuery.Resolve)
 		if err == nil && foundAccount != nil {
@@ -64,25 +64,20 @@ func (p *processor) SearchGet(ctx context.Context, authed *oauth.Auth, searchQue
 	}
 
 	// check if the query is a URI and just do a lookup for that, straight up
-	if uri, err := url.Parse(query); err == nil && !foundOne {
-		// 1. check if it's a status
-		if foundStatus, err := p.searchStatusByURI(ctx, authed, uri, searchQuery.Resolve); err == nil && foundStatus != nil {
-			foundStatuses = append(foundStatuses, foundStatus)
-			foundOne = true
-			l.Debug("got a status by searching by URI")
-		}
-
-		// 2. check if it's an account
-		if foundAccount, err := p.searchAccountByURI(ctx, authed, uri, searchQuery.Resolve); err == nil && foundAccount != nil {
-			foundAccounts = append(foundAccounts, foundAccount)
-			foundOne = true
-			l.Debug("got an account by searching by URI")
-		}
-	}
-
 	if !foundOne {
-		// we haven't found anything yet so search for text now
-		l.Debug("nothing found by mention or by URI, will fall back to searching by text now")
+		if uri, err := url.Parse(query); err == nil {
+			// 1. check if it's a status
+			if foundStatus, err := p.searchStatusByURI(ctx, authed, uri, searchQuery.Resolve); err == nil && foundStatus != nil {
+				foundStatuses = append(foundStatuses, foundStatus)
+				l.Debug("got a status by searching by URI")
+			}
+
+			// 2. check if it's an account
+			if foundAccount, err := p.searchAccountByURI(ctx, authed, uri, searchQuery.Resolve); err == nil && foundAccount != nil {
+				foundAccounts = append(foundAccounts, foundAccount)
+				l.Debug("got an account by searching by URI")
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	/*
diff --git a/internal/regexes/regexes.go b/internal/regexes/regexes.go
index 93d672d3c..3dabb92af 100644
--- a/internal/regexes/regexes.go
+++ b/internal/regexes/regexes.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 )
 
 var (
-	mentionName = `^@(\w+)(?:@([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.:]+)?)$`
+	mentionName = `^@(\w+)(?:@([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.:]+))?$`
 	// MentionName captures the username and domain part from a mention string
 	// such as @whatever_user@example.org, returning whatever_user and example.org (without the @ symbols)
 	MentionName = regexp.MustCompile(mentionName)
diff --git a/internal/util/statustools.go b/internal/util/statustools.go
index 95ce63a5b..030372b50 100644
--- a/internal/util/statustools.go
+++ b/internal/util/statustools.go
@@ -68,16 +68,12 @@ func DeriveEmojisFromText(text string) []string {
 // If nothing is matched, it will return an error.
 func ExtractMentionParts(mention string) (username, domain string, err error) {
 	matches := regexes.MentionName.FindStringSubmatch(mention)
-	if matches == nil || len(matches) != 3 {
-		err = fmt.Errorf("could't match mention %s", mention)
-		return
+	switch len(matches) {
+	case 2:
+		return matches[1], "", nil
+	case 3:
+		return matches[1], matches[2], nil
+	default:
+		return "", "", fmt.Errorf("couldn't match mention %s", mention)
 	}
-	username = matches[1]
-	domain = matches[2]
-	return
-}
-
-// IsMention returns true if the passed string looks like @whatever@example.org
-func IsMention(mention string) bool {
-	return regexes.MentionName.MatchString(strings.ToLower(mention))
 }