diff --git a/lib/geocoder.rb b/lib/geocoder.rb
index 2b9912ad4b281454f790cd6876a02104eb4b7ff4..647fb044c5496ca06870209dbb6dd68c2bf52bf5 100644
--- a/lib/geocoder.rb
+++ b/lib/geocoder.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,11 @@ module Geocoder
     data = self.search(query)
     
     # Make sure search found a result.
-    return nil unless data['kml']['response']['status']['code'] == "200"
+    unless data and data['kml']['response']['status']['code'] == "200"
+      return nil
+    end
+    
+    # Isolate the relevant part of the result.
     place = data['kml']['response']['placemark']
 
     # If there are multiple results, blindly use the first.