Merchant Center reports “Invalid image [image_link]” when it followed the URL and did not get a usable image: the URL returned an error, the file was not a supported format, or the host refused Google’s request. Open the exact URL from the feed in a private browser window; if it fails there, fix the URL or the image host, then re-fetch the feed.
| Shown in Merchant Center as | Invalid image [image_link] |
|---|---|
| Attribute | image_link |
| Effect | Product disapproved |
| Where to find it | Products → Needs attention, then filter by this issue |
| Free check | Reported by the free feed check |
What Merchant Center means by “Invalid image [image_link]”
The image_link is present, but when Google followed it, what came back was not a usable image: an HTTP error, an HTML page, or a file in a format Google does not decode. Google’s product issues reference lists the issue as image_link_broken, “Invalid image [image link]”. The image_link specification sets the rules the fetch has to satisfy: a URL that starts with http or https, that Google can crawl, in one of six formats, under 16 MB and 64 megapixels. Google’s product issues reference also lists a slow image host as a separate issue, “Image not retrieved (crawl rate too slow)”, covered on its own page.
Google’s help page for broken image links says a new product stays disapproved until Google can process the image, and an existing product goes back to its previous image.
Why it happens
- The image was deleted or renamed and the feed still carries the old URL (a 404).
- An http:// URL on a store that moved to https. The redirect sometimes lands on a page rather than the file, or the http host no longer answers.
- Unsupported format. SVG, AVIF and HEIC are not among the formats in Google’s image_link specification, which lists JPEG, WebP, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF.
- Bot protection or a firewall that challenges unknown user agents with a JavaScript page. Google gets the challenge page, not the image.
How to fix it
In Shopify
Check where the failing image is hosted: on cdn.shopify.com or elsewhere, for example an image pasted into a description or a metafield. Make sure the feed uses the product’s Shopify media, and if a third-party feed app rewrites image URLs through its own proxy, test one of those URLs in a private window with no cookies.
In WooCommerce
In your security plugin, firewall or CDN, allow Googlebot and Googlebot-image to reach /wp-content/uploads/ without a challenge. If the site moved to https, run a search-and-replace on the uploads URLs so the database, and therefore the feed, carries the current scheme.
In a CSV or XML feed
Take the exact URL from the feed for one affected product and open it in a private browser window. If it fails there, the URL is wrong; correct it. If it works there, the host is treating Google differently: check the server log for Google’s requests and their status codes, and fix the rule that returns the error. Then re-fetch the feed so Google tries again.
How long until Merchant Center clears it
Upload the corrected product data again, then check that the issue is no longer listed on the Needs attention page. Google’s help page for broken image links says the changes may take 24–72 hours to show there.
What FeedRobin does about it
The free check reads the URL, not the pixels, and catches the version of this problem that is visible in text: image links on http://, which we count and, for up to two of them, show with the https:// address as a suggestion; the feeds we serve send the image link the store, the file or a corrections sheet gives. It also downloads a sample of images to measure them, so an image that cannot be fetched at all shows up in that sample as one that could not be downloaded. A connected Shopify store, or a WooCommerce store connected through our plugin, sends us the image URLs the platform gives.
Questions merchants ask
The image opens fine in my browser. Why is it invalid for Google?
Google’s help page for landing pages that are not working says firewalls, especially US-based IP blocks, and server-side restrictions can prevent Google’s crawlers from accessing a site, even when the page loads for you. Google’s image_link specification asks that your robots.txt file allow Googlebot and Googlebot-image, so Google can fetch your images. Google’s product issues reference lists a robots.txt block as a separate issue, “Image not crawlable due to robots.txt”.
Which image formats does Google accept?
JPEG, WebP, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF, with no file over 16 MB and no image over 64 megapixels. An SVG, an AVIF or an HEIC file is not one of them.
Does http:// instead of https:// cause this?
Google accepts both in the URL, but an http URL on a store that has moved to https often redirects to a page or fails outright. Fix the export so it writes the current https address.
Sources
- Image link [image_link] — Google Merchant Center Help
- How to fix: Broken image link — Google Merchant Center Help
- How to fix: Landing page not working — Google Merchant Center Help
- Product issues (Content API for Shopping, sunset on 18 August 2026): common item-level issue codes with their description and detail