diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts
index f6aec0c268..750d728c67 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/catalog/DatabaseEntitiesCatalog.ts
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ export class DatabaseEntitiesCatalog implements EntitiesCatalog {
       const colocatedEntities = location
         ? await this.database.entities(tx, [
             {
-              key: LOCATION_ANNOTATION,
+              key: `metadata.annotations.${LOCATION_ANNOTATION}`,
               values: [location],
             },
           ])
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.test.ts
index 6da87f9150..fad17da733 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.test.ts
@@ -125,46 +125,7 @@ describe('search', () => {
         },
         { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'apiversion', value: 'a' },
         { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'kind', value: 'b' },
-        { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'name', value: 'n' },
-        { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'namespace', value: null },
-        { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'uid', value: null },
-        { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'namespace', value: ENTITY_DEFAULT_NAMESPACE },
       ]);
     });
-
-    it('adds prefix-stripped versions', () => {
-      const input: Entity = {
-        apiVersion: 'a',
-        kind: 'b',
-        metadata: {
-          name: 'name',
-          labels: {
-            lbl: 'lbl',
-          },
-          annotations: {
-            ann: 'ann',
-          },
-        },
-        spec: {
-          sub: {
-            spc: 'spc',
-          },
-        },
-      };
-      expect(buildEntitySearch('eid', input)).toStrictEqual(
-        expect.arrayContaining([
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'metadata.name', value: 'name' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'name', value: 'name' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'metadata.labels.lbl', value: 'lbl' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'labels.lbl', value: 'lbl' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'lbl', value: 'lbl' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'metadata.annotations.ann', value: 'ann' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'annotations.ann', value: 'ann' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'ann', value: 'ann' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'spec.sub.spc', value: 'spc' },
-          { entity_id: 'eid', key: 'sub.spc', value: 'spc' },
-        ]),
-      );
-    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.ts
index cbcd01a5d0..bbed2fac47 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/database/search.ts
@@ -17,15 +17,6 @@
 import { Entity, ENTITY_DEFAULT_NAMESPACE } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import type { DbEntitiesSearchRow } from './types';
 
-// Search entries that start with these prefixes, also get a shorthand without
-// that prefix
-const SHORTHAND_KEY_PREFIXES = [
-  'metadata.',
-  'metadata.labels.',
-  'metadata.annotations.',
-  'spec.',
-];
-
 // These are excluded in the generic loop, either because they do not make sense
 // to index, or because they are special-case always inserted whether they are
 // null or not
@@ -159,14 +150,5 @@ export function buildEntitySearch(
   // Visit the entire structure recursively
   visitEntityPart(entityId, '', entity, result);
 
-  // Generate shorthands for fields directly under some common collections
-  for (const row of result.slice()) {
-    for (const stripPrefix of SHORTHAND_KEY_PREFIXES) {
-      if (row.key.startsWith(stripPrefix)) {
-        result.push({ ...row, key: row.key.substr(stripPrefix.length) });
-      }
-    }
-  }
-
   return result;
 }