diff --git a/kms/apiv1/requests.go b/kms/apiv1/requests.go
index eb55f8ed..394dd0ac 100644
--- a/kms/apiv1/requests.go
+++ b/kms/apiv1/requests.go
@@ -179,18 +179,19 @@ type CreateKeyResponse struct {
 }
 
 // SearchKeysRequest is the request for the SearchKeys method. It takes
-// a single Query string with the attributes to match when searching the
+// a Query string with the attributes to match when searching the
 // KMS.
 type SearchKeysRequest struct {
 	Query string
 }
 
-// SearchKeyResult is a single results returned from the SearchKeys
+// SearchKeyResult is a single result returned from the SearchKeys
 // method.
 type SearchKeyResult CreateKeyResponse
 
 // SearchKeysResponse is the response for the SearchKeys method. It
-// wraps a slice of SearchKeyResponse structs.
+// wraps a slice of SearchKeyResult structs. The Results slice can
+// be empty in case no key was found for the search query.
 type SearchKeysResponse struct {
 	Results []SearchKeyResult
 }
diff --git a/kms/mackms/mackms.go b/kms/mackms/mackms.go
index db7ce941..9398075d 100644
--- a/kms/mackms/mackms.go
+++ b/kms/mackms/mackms.go
@@ -555,6 +555,18 @@ func (*MacKMS) DeleteCertificate(req *apiv1.DeleteCertificateRequest) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// SearchKeys searches for keys according to the query URI in the request.
+//
+//   - "" will return all keys managed by the KMS (using the default tag)
+//   - "mackms:" will return all keys managed by the KMS  (using the default tag)
+//   - "mackms:label=my-label" will return all keys using label "my-label" (and the default tag)
+//   - "mackms:hash=the-hash" will return all keys having hash "hash" (and the default tag; generally one result)
+//   - "mackms:tag=my-tag" will search for all keys with "my-tag"
+//
+// # Experimental
+//
+// Notice: This API is EXPERIMENTAL and may be changed or removed in a later
+// release.
 func (k *MacKMS) SearchKeys(req *apiv1.SearchKeysRequest) (*apiv1.SearchKeysResponse, error) {
 	if req.Query == "" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("searchKeysRequest 'query' cannot be empty")
@@ -586,7 +598,7 @@ func (k *MacKMS) SearchKeys(req *apiv1.SearchKeysRequest) (*apiv1.SearchKeysResp
 		}
 
 		// obtain the public key by requesting it, as the current
-		// representation of the key are just the attributes.
+		// representation of the key includes just the attributes.
 		pub, err := k.GetPublicKey(&apiv1.GetPublicKeyRequest{
 			Name: name.String(),
 		})
@@ -724,7 +736,10 @@ func getPrivateKeys(u *keyAttributes) ([]*security.SecKeychainItemRef, error) {
 	var result cf.TypeRef
 	err = security.SecItemCopyMatching(query, &result)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed matching: %w", err)
+		if errors.Is(err, security.ErrNotFound) {
+			return []*security.SecKeychainItemRef{}, nil
+		}
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("macOS SecItemCopyMatching failed: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	array := cf.NewArrayRef(result)
@@ -1041,7 +1056,7 @@ func parseSearchURI(rawuri string) (*keyAttributes, error) {
 	}
 
 	// When rawuri is a mackms uri.
-	u, err := uri.ParseWithScheme(Scheme, rawuri)
+	u, err := uri.Parse(rawuri)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -1066,11 +1081,9 @@ func parseSearchURI(rawuri string) (*keyAttributes, error) {
 		tag = DefaultTag
 	}
 	return &keyAttributes{
-		label:            label,
-		tag:              tag,
-		hash:             u.GetEncoded("hash"),
-		useSecureEnclave: u.GetBool("se"),
-		useBiometrics:    u.GetBool("bio"),
+		label: label,
+		tag:   tag,
+		hash:  u.GetEncoded("hash"),
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/kms/mackms/mackms_test.go b/kms/mackms/mackms_test.go
index d233dc52..6bf27402 100644
--- a/kms/mackms/mackms_test.go
+++ b/kms/mackms/mackms_test.go
@@ -1239,7 +1239,15 @@ func TestMacKMS_SearchKeys(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	tag := fmt.Sprintf("com.smallstep.crypto.test.%s", name) // unique tag per test execution
 
+	// initialize MacKMS
 	k := &MacKMS{}
+
+	// search by tag; expect 0 keys before the test
+	got, err := k.SearchKeys(&apiv1.SearchKeysRequest{Query: fmt.Sprintf("mackms:tag=%s", tag)})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.NotNil(t, got)
+	require.Len(t, got.Results, 0)
+
 	key1, err := k.CreateKey(&apiv1.CreateKeyRequest{Name: fmt.Sprintf("mackms:name=test-step-1;label=test-step-1;tag=%s;se=false", tag)})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	key2, err := k.CreateKey(&apiv1.CreateKeyRequest{Name: fmt.Sprintf("mackms:name=test-step-2;label=test-step-2;tag=%s;se=false", tag)})
@@ -1258,7 +1266,7 @@ func TestMacKMS_SearchKeys(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 
 	// search by tag
-	got, err := k.SearchKeys(&apiv1.SearchKeysRequest{Query: fmt.Sprintf("mackms:tag=%s", tag)})
+	got, err = k.SearchKeys(&apiv1.SearchKeysRequest{Query: fmt.Sprintf("mackms:tag=%s", tag)})
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	require.NotNil(t, got)
 	require.Len(t, got.Results, 2)