diff --git a/js/ui/appDisplay.js b/js/ui/appDisplay.js
index 6edf03c40..6ffe58b6c 100644
--- a/js/ui/appDisplay.js
+++ b/js/ui/appDisplay.js
@@ -2035,6 +2035,7 @@ var AppFolderPopup = GObject.registerClass({
 
 var AppIcon = GObject.registerClass({
     GTypeName: 'AppDisplay_AppIcon',
+    Implements: [Search.SearchResultInterface],
     Signals: {
         'menu-state-changed': { param_types: [GObject.TYPE_BOOLEAN] },
         'sync-tooltip': {},
diff --git a/js/ui/search.js b/js/ui/search.js
index 7e7645a3d..169ceab8a 100644
--- a/js/ui/search.js
+++ b/js/ui/search.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // -*- mode: js; js-indent-level: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil -*-
-/* exported SearchResultsView */
+/* exported SearchResultsView, SearchResultInterface */
 
 const { Clutter, Gio, GLib, GObject, Meta, Shell, St } = imports.gi;
 
@@ -32,8 +32,17 @@ class MaxWidthBox extends St.BoxLayout {
     }
 });
 
-var SearchResult = GObject.registerClass(
-class SearchResult extends St.Button {
+var SearchResultInterface = GObject.registerClass({
+    Requires: [Clutter.Actor],
+}, class SearchResultInterface extends GObject.Interface {
+    activate() {
+        throw new GObject.NotImplementedError('activate in %s'.format(this.constructor.name));
+    }
+});
+
+var SearchResult = GObject.registerClass({
+    Implements: [SearchResultInterface]
+}, class SearchResult extends St.Button {
     _init(provider, metaInfo, resultsView) {
         this.provider = provider;
         this.metaInfo = metaInfo;
@@ -242,6 +251,8 @@ var SearchResultsBase = GObject.registerClass({
                 metasNeeded.forEach((resultId, i) => {
                     let meta = metas[i];
                     let display = this._createResultDisplay(meta);
+                    if (!(display instanceof SearchResultInterface))
+                        throw new Error(`${display} is not a valid search result`);
                     display.connect('key-focus-in', this._keyFocusIn.bind(this));
                     this._resultDisplays[resultId] = display;
                 });