diff --git a/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md b/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md
index d022641ab6..6c154938ee 100644
--- a/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md
+++ b/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ amount of data, this can take significant time and resources.
 The token used must have the `read_api` scope, and the Users and Groups fetched
 will be those visible to the account which provisioned the token.
 
+**NOTE**: If any groups that are being ingested are empty groups and the account which provisioned the token is shared at a higher level group via group sharing and you don't see the expected number of Groups in the catalog you may be hitting this [GitLab issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/267996).
+
 ```yaml
 catalog:
   providers:
@@ -65,7 +67,7 @@ catalog:
       yourProviderId:
         host: gitlab.com
         orgEnabled: true
-        group: org/teams # Optional. Must not end with slash. Accepts only groups under the provided path (which will be stripped)
+        group: org/teams # Required for gitlab.com. Optional for self managed. Must not end with slash. Accepts only groups under the provided path (which will be stripped)
         groupPattern: '[\s\S]*' # Optional. Filters found groups based on provided pattern. Defaults to `[\s\S]*`, which means to not filter anything
 ```
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts
index d2a3fa01e0..1e5e3ea32b 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts
@@ -102,12 +102,6 @@ export class GitLabClient {
     let hasNextPage: boolean = false;
     let endCursor: string | null = null;
 
-    if (!groupPath) {
-      throw new Error(
-        `Missing required 'group' value in gitlab provider config.`,
-      );
-    }
-
     do {
       const response: GitLabSaasUsersResponse = await fetch(
         `${this.config.baseUrl}/api/graphql`,
@@ -181,12 +175,6 @@ export class GitLabClient {
     let hasNextPage: boolean = false;
     let endCursor: string | null = null;
 
-    if (!groupPath) {
-      throw new Error(
-        `Missing required 'group' value in gitlab provider config.`,
-      );
-    }
-
     do {
       const response: GitLabSaasGroupsResponse = await fetch(
         `${this.config.baseUrl}/api/graphql`,
@@ -226,7 +214,7 @@ export class GitLabClient {
 
       if (!response.data.group?.descendantGroups.nodes) {
         this.logger.warn(
-          `Could not get groups under ${groupPath}. The provided token might not have sufficient permissions`,
+          `Couldn't get groups under ${groupPath}. The provided token might not have sufficient permissions`,
         );
         continue;
       }
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/GitlabOrgDiscoveryEntityProvider.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/GitlabOrgDiscoveryEntityProvider.ts
index 5fd5094943..94d3e64a02 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/GitlabOrgDiscoveryEntityProvider.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/providers/GitlabOrgDiscoveryEntityProvider.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@ export class GitlabOrgDiscoveryEntityProvider implements EntityProvider {
         );
       }
 
+      if (!providerConfig.group && providerConfig.host === 'gitlab.com') {
+        throw new Error(
+          `Missing 'group' value for GitlabOrgDiscoveryEntityProvider:${providerConfig.id}.`,
+        );
+      }
+
       if (!options.schedule && !providerConfig.schedule) {
         throw new Error(
           `No schedule provided neither via code nor config for GitlabOrgDiscoveryEntityProvider:${providerConfig.id}.`,