Missing value [image link]

What this error means

The image_link attribute is empty for these products. Every product needs a main image before Google will show it anywhere, so items without one are disapproved immediately. This is different from an image that exists but cannot be crawled or is too small. Here Google received no image URL at all.

Why it happens

The most common cause is simply a product without a photo in the store, often a new product that was pushed to the feed before its images were uploaded. The other causes live in the feed itself: the image column is not mapped to the image_link attribute, a variant inherits no image from its parent product, or the feed tool exports an empty value when the image is hosted in a gallery field it does not read.

How to fix it

1. Filter the affected products in Merchant Center and check each one in your store. If the product has no photo, add one.
2. If the product does have a photo, the problem is the mapping. Check that your feed maps the store's main image field to image_link.
3. For variants, make sure each variant either has its own image or falls back to the parent product's image in the feed.
4. Use a real product photo, not a placeholder. A "no image available" graphic clears this error but triggers the generic image disapproval instead.
5. Resubmit the feed and let Google fetch the new image URLs.

Fixing it in your store

Upload product photos before the product goes live in the feed, or exclude products without images from the feed until their photos are ready. Most feed tools can filter on an empty image field, which turns this error into a controlled queue of products waiting for photography instead of a stream of disapprovals.

How long until it clears

Expect 1 to 3 days after the feed contains a working image URL, since Google needs to fetch the image before the product can serve.