diff --git a/.changeset/three-parrots-dress.md b/.changeset/three-parrots-dress.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..836abbf21c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/three-parrots-dress.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-search-backend-module-catalog': patch
+---
+
+Fix search collator text formatting for catalog entities without description
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.test.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.test.ts
index 3fe6a9c3e5..b0b7465f5b 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.test.ts
@@ -147,5 +147,34 @@ describe('DefaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer', () => {
         owner: '',
       });
     });
+
+    it('sets text correctly when description is not provided', async () => {
+      const userEntityWithoutDescription = {
+        ...userEntity,
+        metadata: {
+          ...userEntity.metadata,
+          description: undefined,
+        },
+        spec: {
+          profile: {
+            ...userEntity.spec.profile,
+            email: undefined,
+          },
+        },
+      };
+
+      const document = defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer(
+        userEntityWithoutDescription,
+      );
+
+      expect(document).toMatchObject({
+        title: userEntity.metadata.name,
+        text: userEntity.spec.profile.displayName,
+        namespace: 'default',
+        componentType: 'other',
+        lifecycle: '',
+        owner: '',
+      });
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.ts b/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.ts
index db239b8669..8acc3e24b8 100644
--- a/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.ts
+++ b/plugins/search-backend-module-catalog/src/collators/defaultCatalogCollatorEntityTransformer.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ import { CatalogCollatorEntityTransformer } from './CatalogCollatorEntityTransfo
 
 const getDocumentText = (entity: Entity): string => {
   const documentTexts: string[] = [];
-  documentTexts.push(entity.metadata.description || '');
+  if (entity.metadata.description) {
+    documentTexts.push(entity.metadata.description);
+  }
 
   if (isUserEntity(entity) || isGroupEntity(entity)) {
     if (entity.spec?.profile?.displayName) {