diff --git a/src/invidious/routes/search.cr b/src/invidious/routes/search.cr
index c256d156..5e606adf 100644
--- a/src/invidious/routes/search.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/routes/search.cr
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ module Invidious::Routes::Search
 
       begin
         search_query, count, videos, operators = process_search_query(query, page, user, region: region)
+      rescue ex : ChannelSearchException
+        return error_template(404, "Unable to find channel with id of '#{HTML.escape(ex.channel)}'. Are you sure that's an actual channel id? It should look like 'UC4QobU6STFB0P71PMvOGN5A'.")
       rescue ex
         return error_template(500, ex)
       end
diff --git a/src/invidious/search.cr b/src/invidious/search.cr
index 2095721c..0f6dc6eb 100644
--- a/src/invidious/search.cr
+++ b/src/invidious/search.cr
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+class ChannelSearchException < InfoException
+  getter channel : String
+
+  def initialize(@channel)
+  end
+end
+
 def channel_search(query, page, channel)
   response = YT_POOL.client &.get("/channel/#{channel}")
 
@@ -5,8 +12,8 @@ def channel_search(query, page, channel)
     response = YT_POOL.client &.get("/user/#{channel}")
     response = YT_POOL.client &.get("/c/#{channel}") if response.status_code == 404
     initial_data = extract_initial_data(response.body)
-    ucid = initial_data["header"]["c4TabbedHeaderRenderer"]?.try &.["channelId"].as_s?
-    raise InfoException.new("Impossible to extract channel ID from page") if !ucid
+    ucid = initial_data.dig?("header", "c4TabbedHeaderRenderer", "channelId").try(&.as_s?)
+    raise ChannelSearchException.new(channel) if !ucid
   else
     ucid = channel
   end