diff --git a/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py b/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
index 0411df76b9..b58fb85e35 100644
--- a/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
+++ b/devscripts/make_lazy_extractors.py
@@ -39,12 +39,6 @@ class {name}({bases}):
     _module = '{module}'
 '''
 
-make_valid_template = '''
-    @classmethod
-    def _make_valid_url(cls):
-        return {valid_url!r}
-'''
-
 
 def get_base_name(base):
     if base is InfoExtractor:
@@ -61,15 +55,14 @@ def build_lazy_ie(ie, name):
         bases=', '.join(map(get_base_name, ie.__bases__)),
         module=ie.__module__)
     valid_url = getattr(ie, '_VALID_URL', None)
+    if not valid_url and hasattr(ie, '_make_valid_url'):
+        valid_url = ie._make_valid_url()
     if valid_url:
         s += f'    _VALID_URL = {valid_url!r}\n'
     if not ie._WORKING:
         s += '    _WORKING = False\n'
     if ie.suitable.__func__ is not InfoExtractor.suitable.__func__:
         s += f'\n{getsource(ie.suitable)}'
-    if hasattr(ie, '_make_valid_url'):
-        # search extractors
-        s += make_valid_template.format(valid_url=ie._make_valid_url())
     return s
 
 
diff --git a/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py b/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py
index 37e69d4098..597db63d1b 100644
--- a/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py
+++ b/yt_dlp/extractor/common.py
@@ -466,6 +466,8 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
         # we have cached the regexp for *this* class, whereas getattr would also
         # match the superclass
         if '_VALID_URL_RE' not in cls.__dict__:
+            if '_VALID_URL' not in cls.__dict__:
+                cls._VALID_URL = cls._make_valid_url()
             cls._VALID_URL_RE = re.compile(cls._VALID_URL)
         return cls._VALID_URL_RE.match(url)
 
@@ -3658,17 +3660,8 @@ class SearchInfoExtractor(InfoExtractor):
     def _make_valid_url(cls):
         return r'%s(?P<prefix>|[1-9][0-9]*|all):(?P<query>[\s\S]+)' % cls._SEARCH_KEY
 
-    @classmethod
-    def suitable(cls, url):
-        return re.match(cls._make_valid_url(), url) is not None
-
     def _real_extract(self, query):
-        mobj = re.match(self._make_valid_url(), query)
-        if mobj is None:
-            raise ExtractorError('Invalid search query "%s"' % query)
-
-        prefix = mobj.group('prefix')
-        query = mobj.group('query')
+        prefix, query = self._match_valid_url(query).group('prefix', 'query')
         if prefix == '':
             return self._get_n_results(query, 1)
         elif prefix == 'all':