diff --git a/.changeset/tough-clocks-enjoy.md b/.changeset/tough-clocks-enjoy.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..90e00382df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tough-clocks-enjoy.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend': patch
+---
+
+Tweaked the wording of the "does not have a location" errors to include the actual missing annotation name, to help users better in fixing their inputs.
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/util.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/util.ts
index 5cf7821371..94634f794a 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/util.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/processing/util.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,9 @@ export function getEntityLocationRef(entity: Entity): string {
   const ref = entity.metadata.annotations?.[ANNOTATION_LOCATION];
   if (!ref) {
     const entityRef = stringifyEntityRef(entity);
-    throw new InputError(`Entity '${entityRef}' does not have a location`);
+    throw new InputError(
+      `Entity '${entityRef}' does not have the annotation ${ANNOTATION_LOCATION}`,
+    );
   }
   return ref;
 }
@@ -47,7 +49,7 @@ export function getEntityOriginLocationRef(entity: Entity): string {
   if (!ref) {
     const entityRef = stringifyEntityRef(entity);
     throw new InputError(
-      `Entity '${entityRef}' does not have an origin location`,
+      `Entity '${entityRef}' does not have the annotation ${ANNOTATION_ORIGIN_LOCATION}`,
     );
   }
   return ref;