link data quality Fix “Invalid link” on Google Merchant Center
The product link URL is malformed or unreachable. Could be HTTP instead of HTTPS, missing protocol, broken encoding, or returning a non-2xx status code.
What you see in Google Merchant Center:
Invalid link
API identifier: invalid_url
Invalid link is the URL-format failure. HTTP instead of HTTPS, malformed URL encoding, relative URLs in a feed (always need absolute), URLs with broken character encoding around special characters in slugs.
The feed-generation step is where most of these get introduced. Many platforms produce mostly-correct URLs but trip on edge cases — special characters, multilingual slugs, region-specific URL structures. The fix is at the pipeline: enforce absolute HTTPS URLs with proper encoding at generation time, validate before publish.
The HTTPS requirement is non-negotiable in 2026. HTTP URLs are rejected universally. Any feed source that produces HTTP URLs needs upgrading or transformation at the pipeline.
URL changes after site migration are a common longer-term cause. The feed has URLs from before a refactor; the new URLs differ; the old ones either 404 or redirect to non-product pages. Pipeline configuration needs updating when the underlying URL structure changes.
Top causes
- 1
HTTP URLs (must be HTTPS in 2026)
- 2
URL encoding issues with special characters in slugs
- 3
Relative URLs ('/products/x') instead of absolute ('https://store.com/products/x')
- 4
Old URLs that 404 after a site migration
How to fix it
- 1
Inspect the affected URLs
Export the affected SKU list with link values. Eyeball any obviously broken URLs (missing https://, relative paths, etc.).
- 2
Test each URL
Open in incognito. Check for 200 response, no redirect chains, working page.
- 3
Fix at source
Update the feed-generation logic to always produce absolute HTTPS URLs. If URLs changed during a migration, update them.
- 4
Force-fetch and verify
Items clear within 15-30 minutes after the fetch.
Related fields
Related tools
FAQ
Are relative URLs ever acceptable?
Never in feeds. The feed file is parsed independently of any site context, so relative URLs have no base to resolve against. Always absolute URLs starting with https://.
Last reviewed: 26 May 2026
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