diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts
index e1bd8ec386..d1cd6e7c5e 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,10 @@
  */
 
 import { TestDatabaseId, TestDatabases } from '@backstage/backend-test-utils';
-import { ANNOTATION_ORIGIN_LOCATION } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
+import {
+  ANNOTATION_ORIGIN_LOCATION,
+  stringifyEntityRef,
+} from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid';
 import { applyDatabaseMigrations } from '../database/migrations';
 import {
@@ -25,6 +28,7 @@ import {
   DbSearchRow,
 } from '../database/tables';
 import { DefaultLocationStore } from './DefaultLocationStore';
+import { locationSpecToLocationEntity } from '../util/conversion';
 import { CatalogScmEventsServiceSubscriber } from '@backstage/plugin-catalog-node/alpha';
 import waitFor from 'wait-for-expect';
 
@@ -154,6 +158,48 @@ describe('DefaultLocationStore', () => {
         });
       },
     );
+
+    it.each(databases.eachSupportedId())(
+      'updates refresh_state when onConflict is refresh, %p',
+      async databaseId => {
+        const { store, knex } = await createLocationStore(databaseId);
+        const spec = {
+          type: 'url',
+          target:
+            'https://github.com/backstage/demo/blob/master/catalog-info.yml',
+        };
+
+        // Create the location initially
+        await store.createLocation(spec);
+
+        // Seed a refresh_state row for the corresponding Location entity
+        const entity = locationSpecToLocationEntity({ location: spec });
+        const entityRef = stringifyEntityRef(entity);
+        const entityId = uuid();
+        const oldDate = new Date('2020-01-01T00:00:00Z');
+        await knex<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state').insert({
+          entity_id: entityId,
+          entity_ref: entityRef,
+          unprocessed_entity: '{}',
+          errors: '[]',
+          next_update_at: oldDate,
+          last_discovery_at: oldDate,
+          result_hash: 'old-hash',
+        });
+
+        // Re-register the same location with onConflict: 'refresh'
+        await store.createLocation(spec, { onConflict: 'refresh' });
+
+        // Verify that the refresh_state row was updated
+        const [row] = await knex<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state').where({
+          entity_ref: entityRef,
+        });
+        expect(row.result_hash).toBe('');
+        expect(new Date(row.next_update_at).getTime()).toBeGreaterThan(
+          oldDate.getTime(),
+        );
+      },
+    );
   });
 
   describe('deleteLocation', () => {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.ts
index ab9ffdefbb..8619d13459 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/providers/DefaultLocationStore.ts
@@ -105,23 +105,25 @@ export class DefaultLocationStore implements LocationStore, EntityProvider {
       return inner;
     });
 
+    // Always upsert the entity, even if the location already existed, to
+    // recover from cases where the entity was inadvertently deleted.
+    const entity = locationSpecToLocationEntity({ location });
+    await this.connection.applyMutation({
+      type: 'delta',
+      added: [{ entity, locationKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) }],
+      removed: [],
+    });
+
     if (existed) {
-      const entityRef = stringifyEntityRef(
-        locationSpecToLocationEntity({ location }),
-      );
+      // This is the "onConflict refresh" case, where a re-registration safely
+      // tries to recover from a bad state.
+      const entityRef = stringifyEntityRef(entity);
       await this.db<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state')
         .where({ entity_ref: entityRef })
         .update({
           next_update_at: this.db.fn.now(),
           result_hash: '',
         });
-    } else {
-      const entity = locationSpecToLocationEntity({ location });
-      await this.connection.applyMutation({
-        type: 'delta',
-        added: [{ entity, locationKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) }],
-        removed: [],
-      });
     }
 
     return location;