Pagination question with query()

Hi, I have a simple method that handles pagination with search. I was wondering why using Guild::query() does not with pagination. Using this method below gives me the error of Call to undefined method links(). However, not using query() and handling it separately works fine.

What's the reason behind this? Is there a better way to write this method below? Thanks for any advice.

    public function showHomePage(Request $request)
    {

        $search = "";
        $guilds = Guild::query();

        if ($request->has('search')) {
            $search = $request->get('search');
            $guilds->whereLike('guild_id', $request->get('search'));
        }

        $guilds->paginate(1);

        return view('index', compact('guilds', 'search'));
    }

Working method

    public function showHomePage(Request $request)
    {

        $search = "";

        if ($request->has('search')) {
            $search = $request->get('search');
            $guilds = Guild::whereLike('guild_id', $request->get('search'))->paginate(1);
        } else {
            $guilds = Guild::paginate(1);
        }

        return view('index', compact('guilds', 'search'));
    }