diff --git a/cmd/helm/search.go b/cmd/helm/search.go
index 7db476b3a..631f39140 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/search.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/search.go
@@ -166,10 +166,12 @@ func (s *searchCmd) formatSearchResults(res []*search.Result, colWidth uint) str
 }
 
 func (s *searchCmd) formatSearchResultsJson(res []*search.Result, colWidth uint) (string, error) {
+	var resultJson []ResultEntry
+
 	if len(res) == 0 {
 		return "No results found", nil
 	}
-	resultJson := []ResultEntry{}
+
 	for _, r := range res {
 		resultRow := ResultEntry{
 			Name: r.Name,
@@ -179,12 +181,12 @@ func (s *searchCmd) formatSearchResultsJson(res []*search.Result, colWidth uint)
 		}
 		resultJson = append(resultJson, resultRow)
 	}
-	json, err := json.MarshalIndent(Results{SearchResults: resultJson}, "", "    ")
+	jsonSearchResults, err := json.MarshalIndent(Results{SearchResults: resultJson}, "", "    ")
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
 
-	return string(json), nil
+	return string(jsonSearchResults), nil
 }
 
 func (s *searchCmd) buildIndex() (*search.Index, error) {
diff --git a/cmd/helm/search_test.go b/cmd/helm/search_test.go
index 6a1e84f24..4617ea151 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/search_test.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/search_test.go
@@ -85,10 +85,10 @@ func TestSearchCmd(t *testing.T) {
 			err:   true,
 		},
 		{
-			name:     "search for 'alpine', expect two matches in json",
-			args:     []string{"alpine"},
-			flags:    []string{"--output", "json"},
-			expected: "[\n    {\n        \"name\": \"testing/alpine\",\n        \"chartVersion\": \"0.2.0\",\n        \"appVersion\": \"2.3.4\",\n        \"description\": \"Deploy a basic Alpine Linux pod\"\n    }\n]\n",
+			name:  "search for 'alpine', expect two matches in json",
+			args:  []string{"alpine"},
+			flags: []string{"--output", "json"},
+			expected: "{\n    \"searchResults\": \\[\n        {\n            \"name\": \"testing/alpine\",\n            \"chartVersion\": \"0.2.0\",\n            \"appVersion\": \"2.3.4\",\n            \"description\": \"Deploy a basic Alpine Linux pod\"\n        }\n    \\]\n}",
 		},
 	}