diff --git a/CHANGELOG-WIP.md b/CHANGELOG-WIP.md
index b5380f2c707..a629bf8cdbf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG-WIP.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG-WIP.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 ### Extensibility
 - Added `craft\services\Relations::deleteLeftoverRelations()`. ([#13956](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/13956))
+- Added `craft\services\Search::shouldCallSearchElements()`. ([#14293](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/14293))
 
 ### System
 - Relations for fields that are no longer included in an element’s field layout are now deleted after element save. ([#13956](https://github.com/craftcms/cms/issues/13956))
diff --git a/src/elements/db/ElementQuery.php b/src/elements/db/ElementQuery.php
index c12c7502ae4..869c990685f 100644
--- a/src/elements/db/ElementQuery.php
+++ b/src/elements/db/ElementQuery.php
@@ -2776,9 +2776,11 @@ private function _applySearchParam(): void
             return;
         }
 
-        if (isset($this->orderBy['score'])) {
+        $searchService = Craft::$app->getSearch();
+
+        if (isset($this->orderBy['score']) || $searchService->shouldCallSearchElements($this)) {
             // Get the scored results up front
-            $searchResults = Craft::$app->getSearch()->searchElements($this);
+            $searchResults = $searchService->searchElements($this);
 
             if ($this->orderBy['score'] === SORT_ASC) {
                 $searchResults = array_reverse($searchResults, true);
@@ -2804,7 +2806,7 @@ private function _applySearchParam(): void
             $this->subQuery->andWhere(['elements.id' => array_keys($searchResults)]);
         } else {
             // Just filter the main query by the search query
-            $searchQuery = Craft::$app->getSearch()->createDbQuery($this->search, $this);
+            $searchQuery = $searchService->createDbQuery($this->search, $this);
 
             if ($searchQuery === false) {
                 throw new QueryAbortedException();
diff --git a/src/services/Search.php b/src/services/Search.php
index 6684ac90028..05237a58725 100644
--- a/src/services/Search.php
+++ b/src/services/Search.php
@@ -196,6 +196,22 @@ public function indexElementAttributes(ElementInterface $element, ?array $fieldH
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns whether we should search for the resulting elements up front via [[searchElements()]],
+     * rather than supply a subquery which should be applied to the main element query via [[createDbQuery()]].
+     *
+     * If the element query is being ordered by `score`, [[searchElements()]] will be called regardless of
+     * what this returns.
+     *
+     * @param ElementQuery $elementQuery
+     * @return bool
+     * @since 4.8.0
+     */
+    public function shouldCallSearchElements(ElementQuery $elementQuery): bool
+    {
+        return false;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Searches for elements that match the given element query.
      *