diff --git a/MeshLib/MeshEditing/RemoveMeshComponents.cpp b/MeshLib/MeshEditing/RemoveMeshComponents.cpp
index 06a657345bdd9051eb77b115024f4be61d2ebef7..5bdbf97824860533434dd762ebff85303c545856 100644
--- a/MeshLib/MeshEditing/RemoveMeshComponents.cpp
+++ b/MeshLib/MeshEditing/RemoveMeshComponents.cpp
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ MeshLib::Mesh* removeElements(const MeshLib::Mesh& mesh, const std::vector<std::
 
 	// delete unused nodes
 	NodeSearch ns(mesh);
-	ns.searchByElementIDs(removed_element_ids);
+	ns.markNodesConnectedToElements(removed_element_ids);
 	auto &removed_node_ids(ns.getSearchedNodeIDs());
 	INFO("Removing total %d nodes...", removed_node_ids.size());
 	for (auto nodeid : removed_node_ids)
diff --git a/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.cpp b/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.cpp
index a51b460e52c3013a7142f4a75a79e20ae67ad00a..194cc77ebf3a1c4573149bed75bf4c73e35dc044 100644
--- a/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.cpp
+++ b/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.cpp
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ NodeSearch::NodeSearch(const MeshLib::Mesh &mesh)
 {
 }
 
-std::vector<std::size_t> NodeSearch::searchByElementIDsMatchAllConnectedElements(const std::vector<std::size_t> &elements)
+std::size_t NodeSearch::markNodesConnectedToElements(
+		const std::vector<std::size_t> &elements)
 {
 	// Find out by how many elements a node would be removed.
 	//
@@ -49,7 +50,9 @@ std::vector<std::size_t> NodeSearch::searchByElementIDsMatchAllConnectedElements
 		if (node_marked_counts[i] == _mesh.getNode(i)->getElements().size())
 			connected_nodes.push_back(i);
 	}
-	return connected_nodes;
+
+	this->updateUnion(connected_nodes);
+	return connected_nodes.size();
 }
 
 std::size_t NodeSearch::searchUnused()
diff --git a/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.h b/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.h
index 72278be3bafd8729f1bc9e8ac416713eb7ecb0b1..97d9b562198aba21e49cb45f4719aded55252091 100644
--- a/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.h
+++ b/MeshLib/MeshSearch/NodeSearch.h
@@ -30,14 +30,8 @@ public:
 	const std::vector<std::size_t>& getSearchedNodeIDs() const {return _marked_nodes; }
 
 	/// Marks all nodes connected to any of the given elements ids.
-	std::size_t searchByElementIDs(const std::vector<std::size_t> &element_ids)
-	{
-		std::vector<std::size_t> connected_nodes =
-				searchByElementIDsMatchAllConnectedElements(element_ids);
-
-		this->updateUnion(connected_nodes);
-		return connected_nodes.size();
-	}
+    /// \return number of connected nodes.
+	std::size_t markNodesConnectedToElements(const std::vector<std::size_t> &element_ids);
 
 	/// Marks all unused nodes
 	std::size_t searchUnused();