Fix “Invalid image link” in Google Merchant Center
Typical Merchant Center message: Invalid image link
Reviewed October 14, 2026 against Google’s published rules.
Google reports an invalid image link when the value in the image link [image_link] attribute does not meet its minimum requirements. Google then cannot show the image, and the product cannot appear in ads or free listings.
What Google requires
The image URL must start with http:// or https://. A link that does not start this way does not qualify.
How to fix it
- Open Products, then Needs attention, and filter for this issue.
- Check the image link URL of each affected product and replace it with a full web address that starts with https://.
- Paste the address into a browser. It should open the image itself.
- Remove spaces and unusual characters from the address, or encode them.
- To fix many products at once, download the .csv list of affected products from the Needs attention tab, correct the image links in your product data and re-upload it.
- Google says it can take 24–72 hours for a fix to leave the Needs attention list.
Check your own catalog for these issues
FeedGuard checks every image link in your file for valid web-address syntax and flags the rows that fail, before the file reaches Google.
Google’s requirement: support.google.com/merchants/answer/12470640. FeedGuard checks your data against published rules; Google makes the final approval decision.
Independent guidance. Google’s current documentation and decisions control. FeedGuard is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Google or Shopify, and this guide is not an official Google Help Center page.