diff --git a/src/documents/filters.py b/src/documents/filters.py
index a1c346e87..b6c1d76b1 100644
--- a/src/documents/filters.py
+++ b/src/documents/filters.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ from documents.models import ShareLinkBundle
 from documents.models import StoragePath
 from documents.models import Tag
 from documents.permissions import permitted_object_ids
-from documents.versioning import ensure_effective_content
+from documents.versioning import annotate_effective_content
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import Callable
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ class TitleContentFilter(Filter):
             logger.warning(
                 "Deprecated document filter parameter 'title_content' used; use `text` instead.",
             )
-            return ensure_effective_content(qs).filter(
+            return annotate_effective_content(qs).filter(
                 Q(title__icontains=value) | Q(effective_content__icontains=value),
             )
         else:
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ class EffectiveContentFilter(Filter):
         value = value.strip() if isinstance(value, str) else value
         if not value:
             return qs
-        return ensure_effective_content(qs).filter(
+        return annotate_effective_content(qs).filter(
             **{f"effective_content__{self.lookup_expr}": value},
         )
 
diff --git a/src/documents/tests/test_api_document_versions.py b/src/documents/tests/test_api_document_versions.py
index 5bda7d758..33c7e6757 100644
--- a/src/documents/tests/test_api_document_versions.py
+++ b/src/documents/tests/test_api_document_versions.py
@@ -958,6 +958,7 @@ class TestVersionAwareFilters(DjangoTestCase):
         annotated = annotate_effective_content(
             Document.objects.filter(root_document__isnull=True),
         )
+        self.assertIs(annotate_effective_content(annotated), annotated)
 
         result = EffectiveContentFilter(lookup_expr="icontains").filter(
             annotated,
diff --git a/src/documents/versioning.py b/src/documents/versioning.py
index 853bfed98..758391a0b 100644
--- a/src/documents/versioning.py
+++ b/src/documents/versioning.py
@@ -27,10 +27,13 @@ def versions_newest_first(documents: QuerySet[Document]) -> QuerySet[Document]:
 
 def annotate_effective_content(documents: QuerySet[Document]) -> QuerySet[Document]:
     """
-    Annotates documents with the content of their newest version, falling back
-    to their own, so get_effective_content() can answer from the row rather
-    than querying for the versions of each document
+    Annotates documents with the content of their newest version unless the
+    queryset already carries the annotation, falling back to their own, so
+    get_effective_content() can answer from the row rather than querying for
+    the versions of each document.
     """
+    if "effective_content" in documents.query.annotations:
+        return documents
     return documents.annotate(
         effective_content=Coalesce(
             Subquery(
@@ -43,21 +46,6 @@ def annotate_effective_content(documents: QuerySet[Document]) -> QuerySet[Docume
     )
 
 
-def ensure_effective_content(documents: QuerySet[Document]) -> QuerySet[Document]:
-    """
-    Annotates effective_content unless the queryset already carries it.
-
-    Lets a filter depend on effective_content without having to assume its
-    caller annotated one -- annotating twice under the same alias is an error,
-    and silently matching on the root document's own content instead is worse,
-    because the same filter then selects different documents depending on which
-    queryset it was handed.
-    """
-    if "effective_content" in documents.query.annotations:
-        return documents
-    return annotate_effective_content(documents)
-
-
 def sort_versions_newest_first(documents: list[Document]) -> list[Document]:
     """
     Same sorting as versions_newest_first()