diff --git a/.changeset/forty-dancers-argue.md b/.changeset/forty-dancers-argue.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b30189e88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/forty-dancers-argue.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-catalog-import': patch
+---
+
+Update the wording for unknown URLs in the import flow
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.test.ts
index c81adfa68e..5187ffab52 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.test.ts
@@ -167,7 +167,11 @@ describe('CatalogImportClient', () => {
         catalogImportClient.analyzeUrl(
           'https://github.com/backstage/backstage',
         ),
-      ).rejects.toThrow(new Error('Invalid url'));
+      ).rejects.toThrow(
+        new Error(
+          'This URL was not recognized as a valid GitHub URL because there was no configured integration that matched the given host name. You could try to paste the full URL to a catalog-info.yaml file instead.',
+        ),
+      );
     });
 
     it('should find locations from github', async () => {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.ts b/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.ts
index c4f50efbd4..ccf16e00f1 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-import/src/api/CatalogImportClient.ts
@@ -73,32 +73,33 @@ export class CatalogImportClient implements CatalogImportApi {
     }
 
     const ghConfig = getGithubIntegrationConfig(this.configApi, url);
+    if (!ghConfig) {
+      throw new Error(
+        'This URL was not recognized as a valid GitHub URL because there was no configured integration that matched the given host name. You could try to paste the full URL to a catalog-info.yaml file instead.',
+      );
+    }
 
-    if (ghConfig) {
-      // TODO: this could be part of the analyze-location endpoint
-      const locations = await this.checkGitHubForExistingCatalogInfo({
-        ...ghConfig,
-        url,
-      });
-
-      if (locations.length > 0) {
-        return {
-          type: 'locations',
-          locations,
-        };
-      }
+    // TODO: this could be part of the analyze-location endpoint
+    const locations = await this.checkGitHubForExistingCatalogInfo({
+      ...ghConfig,
+      url,
+    });
 
+    if (locations.length > 0) {
       return {
-        type: 'repository',
-        integrationType: 'github',
-        url: url,
-        generatedEntities: await this.generateEntityDefinitions({
-          repo: url,
-        }),
+        type: 'locations',
+        locations,
       };
     }
 
-    throw new Error('Invalid url');
+    return {
+      type: 'repository',
+      integrationType: 'github',
+      url: url,
+      generatedEntities: await this.generateEntityDefinitions({
+        repo: url,
+      }),
+    };
   }
 
   async submitPullRequest({