diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bf352759..a918dfd1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -650,9 +650,8 @@ spec:
         type: AverageValue
 ```
 
-The HTTP collector similar to the Pod Metrics collector. The metric name should always be `http`.
-This value is also used in the annotations to configure the metrics adapter to query the required
-target. The following configuration values are supported:
+The HTTP collector similar to the Pod Metrics collector. The following
+configuration values are supported:
 
 - `json-key` to specify the JSON path of the metric to be queried
 - `endpoint` the fully formed path to query for the metric. In the above example a Kubernetes _Service_
diff --git a/pkg/collector/http_collector.go b/pkg/collector/http_collector.go
index 719bb1f8..1a6767e2 100644
--- a/pkg/collector/http_collector.go
+++ b/pkg/collector/http_collector.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ const (
 	HTTPMetricNameLegacy      = "http"
 	HTTPEndpointAnnotationKey = "endpoint"
 	HTTPJsonPathAnnotationKey = "json-key"
-	identifierLabel           = "identifier"
 )
 
 type HTTPCollectorPlugin struct{}
@@ -53,9 +52,6 @@ func (p *HTTPCollectorPlugin) NewCollector(hpa *v2beta2.HorizontalPodAutoscaler,
 	if config.Metric.Selector == nil || config.Metric.Selector.MatchLabels == nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no label selector specified for metric: %s", config.Metric.Name)
 	}
-	if _, ok := config.Metric.Selector.MatchLabels[identifierLabel]; !ok {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s is not specified as a label for metric %s", identifierLabel, config.Metric.Name)
-	}
 	collector.metric = config.Metric
 	var aggFunc httpmetrics.AggregatorFunc
 
diff --git a/pkg/collector/http_collector_test.go b/pkg/collector/http_collector_test.go
index 9a18eb26..40ec73e3 100644
--- a/pkg/collector/http_collector_test.go
+++ b/pkg/collector/http_collector_test.go
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ func makeTestHTTPCollectorConfig(endpoint, aggregator string) *MetricConfig {
 			Metric: v2beta2.MetricIdentifier{
 				Name: "test-metric",
 				Selector: &v1.LabelSelector{
-					MatchLabels: map[string]string{identifierLabel: "test-metric"},
+					MatchLabels: map[string]string{"type": HTTPJSONPathType},
 				},
 			},
 		},