Short answer. Merchant Center disapproves a product with “Invalid URL [link]” when the link attribute is not a complete, well-formed URL: it must start with http:// or https:// and follow RFC 3986, with spaces and special characters encoded. Fix the export so it writes the full absolute product URL, then re-fetch the feed.
| Shown in Merchant Center as | Invalid URL [link] |
|---|---|
| Attribute | 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 URL [link]”
The link specification wants a complete URL for every product: it must start with http:// or https://, comply with RFC 3986, and have any symbol or space encoded. The Content API’s product issues list gives the issue as invalid_url, “Invalid URL [link]”, with the one-line fix “use a complete URL that starts with http:// or https://”. The product is disapproved until the link parses.
This is a syntax check, done before Google ever tries to open the page. A link that parses but leads nowhere is a different issue (an unavailable landing page); a link that parses but points at another domain is another (mismatched domains).
Why it happens
- Relative paths.
/product/blue-shirtfrom a permalink field that stores the path without the host. - No scheme.
www.example.com/product/blue-shirt, which a browser fixes and Google does not. - Unencoded characters. Spaces, quotes, accented letters or
#inside the path or query. - The wrong column. A title, a SKU or an image URL mapped into
linkby an export template. - Template leftovers.
{{url}}ornullwritten literally when a product had no permalink.
How to fix it
In Shopify
Shopify’s channel and our integration write the full https:// product URL, with a ?variant= query for variants, so this issue on a Shopify store comes from a third-party export or a hand-built sheet. Check the tool’s mapping for link and make sure it uses the online store URL, not the admin URL or the handle alone.
In WooCommerce
Our free plugin writes each variation’s permalink as WooCommerce generates it, absolute and encoded. If another export produced the feed, look at how it builds the link: a template that concatenates the site URL and a slug can double a slash or miss the scheme when the site URL setting lacks one. Settings → General → Site Address must start with https://.
In a CSV or XML feed
Filter Needs attention to this issue, download the CSV, and inspect the link of each id. Every value must begin with https:// followed by your domain, with spaces as %20 and non-ASCII characters percent-encoded. Paste a suspicious one into a browser’s address bar: if the browser has to rewrite it before loading, fix it in the file. Then re-fetch.
How long until Merchant Center clears it
On the next fetch with valid URLs, the products are processed and Google proceeds to crawl the pages; the disapproval lifts within 24–72 hours, provided the pages then load.
What FeedRobin does about it
The free feed check requires a link to parse a row at all: rows without a usable link are counted among the products every channel would reject and are not scored further. It separately reports links still on http:// and shows the https:// rewrite. For connected stores the link is the platform’s own product URL, regenerated on every sync, so it is always absolute and current.
Questions merchants ask
Is a relative link like /product/blue-shirt invalid?
Yes. Google has no base to resolve it against. Every link must be absolute, starting with https:// and your domain. Exports that copy a permalink field from the database often get the path without the host.
Are spaces or accented characters in a URL a problem?
Unencoded, yes. A space must be %20 and non-ASCII characters percent-encoded; most platforms do this in the permalink already, and a hand-edited spreadsheet is where it comes undone. Paste the URL into a browser: if the browser has to fix it, Google will reject it.
Can I use a tracking redirect as the link?
The link should be the product page itself. A redirect URL is well-formed and passes this check, but Google follows it and evaluates the destination, and a redirect to a different domain trips the mismatched-domains issue instead.
Sources
- Link [link] — Google Merchant Center Help
- Product issues (Content API for Shopping): the issue codes and the titles Merchant Center shows — Google Merchant Center Help
- Product data specification — Google Merchant Center Help