diff --git a/doc/api/buffer.md b/doc/api/buffer.md
index 6c5ed3dc95e046..b4d9421a8ce505 100644
--- a/doc/api/buffer.md
+++ b/doc/api/buffer.md
@@ -1240,10 +1240,9 @@ changes:
 
 * `value` {string|Buffer|Uint8Array|integer} What to search for.
 * `byteOffset` {integer} Where to begin searching in `buf`. **Default:** `0`.
-* `encoding` {string} If `value` is a string, this is the encoding used to
-  determine the binary representation of the string that will be searched for in
-  `buf`. **Default:** `'utf8'`.
-* Returns: {integer} The index of the first occurrence of `value` in `buf`, or
+* `encoding` {string} The encoding of `value` if `value` is a string.
+  **Default:** `'utf8'`.
+* Returns: {integer} The index of the first occurrence of `value` in `buf` or
   `-1` if `buf` does not contain `value`.
 
 If `value` is: