diff --git a/src/pyff/api.py b/src/pyff/api.py
index 4eb751cd..2f61821b 100644
--- a/src/pyff/api.py
+++ b/src/pyff/api.py
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ def _response() -> Generator[bytes, bytes, None]:
         for e in entities:
             if in_loop:
                 yield b','
-            yield dumps(e)
+            yield dumps(e).encode('utf-8')
             in_loop = True
         yield b']'
 
diff --git a/src/pyff/samlmd.py b/src/pyff/samlmd.py
index 1cc4b8a8..4de92b4e 100644
--- a/src/pyff/samlmd.py
+++ b/src/pyff/samlmd.py
@@ -897,7 +897,7 @@ def entity_extended_display(entity, langs=None):
     if info == entity.get('entityID'):
         info = ''
 
-    return display.strip(), info.strip()
+    return (display or '').strip(), (info or '').strip()
 
 
 def entity_display_name(entity: Element, langs=None) -> str:
diff --git a/src/pyff/test/test_md_api.py b/src/pyff/test/test_md_api.py
index 75c26551..72b26772 100644
--- a/src/pyff/test/test_md_api.py
+++ b/src/pyff/test/test_md_api.py
@@ -1,17 +1,20 @@
+import json
 import os
 import shutil
 import tempfile
 import unittest
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from types import SimpleNamespace
 from urllib.parse import quote as urlescape
 
 import pytest
 import requests
 from lxml import etree
 from mako.lookup import TemplateLookup
+from pyramid.testing import DummyRequest
 from wsgi_intercept.interceptor import RequestsInterceptor, UrllibInterceptor
 
-from pyff.api import mkapp
+from pyff.api import mkapp, search_handler
 from pyff.constants import config
 from pyff.samlmd import iter_entities
 from pyff.test import SignerTestCase
@@ -149,6 +152,51 @@ def test_load_and_query(self):
             )
 
 
+class SearchHandlerTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    """
+    The search endpoint streams its result, and WSGI servers such as gunicorn
+    only accept bytes from the response iterator.
+    """
+
+    class _Store:
+        def __init__(self, results):
+            self.results = results
+
+        def search(self, query=None, entity_filter=None, **kwargs):
+            return iter(self.results)
+
+    def _search(self, results, **params):
+        request = DummyRequest(params=params)
+        request.registry = SimpleNamespace(md=SimpleNamespace(store=self._Store(results)))
+        response = search_handler(request)
+        return response, list(response.app_iter)
+
+    def test_chunks_are_bytes(self):
+        results = [
+            {'entityID': 'https://idp1.example.org/idp', 'title': 'Example University'},
+            {'entityID': 'https://idp2.example.org/idp', 'title': 'Östergötland'},
+        ]
+        _response, chunks = self._search(results, q='example')
+        assert chunks
+        assert all(isinstance(chunk, bytes) for chunk in chunks)
+        assert json.loads(b''.join(chunks)) == results
+
+    def test_single_result(self):
+        results = [{'entityID': 'https://idp.example.org/idp', 'title': 'Example University'}]
+        _response, chunks = self._search(results, q='example')
+        assert all(isinstance(chunk, bytes) for chunk in chunks)
+        assert json.loads(b''.join(chunks)) == results
+
+    def test_no_results(self):
+        _response, chunks = self._search([], q='nothing')
+        assert all(isinstance(chunk, bytes) for chunk in chunks)
+        assert b''.join(chunks) == b'[]'
+
+    def test_content_type(self):
+        response, _chunks = self._search([], q='example')
+        assert response.content_type == 'application/json'
+
+
 class PyFFAPITestResources(PipeLineTest):
     """
     Runs twill tests using the wsgi-intercept
diff --git a/src/pyff/test/test_repo.py b/src/pyff/test/test_repo.py
index db8bfe2c..a731d06e 100644
--- a/src/pyff/test/test_repo.py
+++ b/src/pyff/test/test_repo.py
@@ -74,6 +74,48 @@ def test_lang_sv(self):
         assert name == 'Example University'
         assert desc == 'Identity Provider for Example University'
 
+    def test_extended_display_empty_description(self):
+        e = deepcopy(root(self.t))
+        for elt in e.iter("{{{}}}Description".format(NS['mdui'])):
+            elt.text = None
+
+        name, desc = entity_extended_display(e)
+        assert name == 'Example University'
+        assert desc == ''
+
+    def test_extended_display_empty_url_without_description(self):
+        e = deepcopy(root(self.t))
+        for elt in list(e.iter("{{{}}}Description".format(NS['mdui']))):
+            elt.getparent().remove(elt)
+        for elt in e.iter("{{{}}}OrganizationURL".format(NS['md'])):
+            elt.text = None
+
+        name, desc = entity_extended_display(e)
+        assert name == 'Example University'
+        assert desc == ''
+
+    def test_extended_display_url_without_description(self):
+        e = root(parse_xml(os.path.join(self.datadir, 'test04-trailing-slash-sp.xml')))
+
+        name, desc = entity_extended_display(e)
+        assert name == 'Example Service'
+        assert desc == 'https://www.example.com/'
+
+    def test_extended_display_empty_names(self):
+        e = deepcopy(root(self.t))
+        for tag in (
+            "{{{}}}DisplayName".format(NS['mdui']),
+            "{{{}}}OrganizationName".format(NS['md']),
+            "{{{}}}OrganizationDisplayName".format(NS['md']),
+            "{{{}}}ServiceName".format(NS['md']),
+        ):
+            for elt in e.iter(tag):
+                elt.text = None
+
+        name, desc = entity_extended_display(e)
+        assert isinstance(name, str)
+        assert isinstance(desc, str)
+
     def test_utils(self):
         entity_id = root(self.t).get('entityID')
         self.md.store.update(root(self.t), entity_id)