diff --git a/etiquette/searchhelpers.py b/etiquette/searchhelpers.py
index a9b44b9..7bcf7a4 100644
--- a/etiquette/searchhelpers.py
+++ b/etiquette/searchhelpers.py
@@ -484,6 +484,10 @@ def tag_expression_tree_builder(
     return expression_tree
 
 def tag_expression_matcher_builder(frozen_children):
+    frozen_children = {
+        (tag.name if not isinstance(tag, str) else tag): children
+        for (tag, children) in frozen_children.items()
+    }
     def match_function(photo_tags, tagname):
         '''
         Used as the `match_function` for the ExpressionTree evaluation.