search: remove 'ref' result type
Created by: rvantonder
We add a "ref" result type to this slice but there is no "ref"
case when we process the slice, so it is a noop. You can see where the result types are cased out on starting here, and there is no case "ref"
or any other reference to it in this function. Perhaps this was historically used, but it is now dead.
Stacked on #8870