diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.test.ts
index 7bc7b8acfe..292c4c1b7a 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.test.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ import { decodeCursor, encodeCursor } from './util';
 import { wrapInOpenApiTestServer } from '@backstage/backend-openapi-utils';
 import { Server } from 'http';
 import { mockCredentials, mockServices } from '@backstage/backend-test-utils';
+import { LocationAnalyzer } from '../ingestion';
 
 describe('createRouter readonly disabled', () => {
   let entitiesCatalog: jest.Mocked<EntitiesCatalog>;
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ describe('createRouter readonly disabled', () => {
   let orchestrator: jest.Mocked<CatalogProcessingOrchestrator>;
   let app: express.Express | Server;
   let refreshService: RefreshService;
+  let locationAnalyzer: jest.Mocked<LocationAnalyzer>;
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     entitiesCatalog = {
@@ -66,6 +68,10 @@ describe('createRouter readonly disabled', () => {
       deleteLocation: jest.fn(),
       getLocationByEntity: jest.fn(),
     };
+
+    locationAnalyzer = {
+      analyzeLocation: jest.fn(),
+    };
     refreshService = { refresh: jest.fn() };
     orchestrator = { process: jest.fn() };
     const router = await createRouter({
@@ -78,6 +84,7 @@ describe('createRouter readonly disabled', () => {
       permissionIntegrationRouter: express.Router(),
       auth: mockServices.auth(),
       httpAuth: mockServices.httpAuth(),
+      locationAnalyzer,
     });
     app = wrapInOpenApiTestServer(express().use(router));
   });
@@ -821,6 +828,21 @@ describe('createRouter readonly disabled', () => {
       });
     });
   });
+
+  describe('POST /analyze-location', () => {
+    it('handles invalid URLs', async () => {
+      const parseUrlError = new Error();
+      (parseUrlError as any).subject_url = 'not a url';
+      locationAnalyzer.analyzeLocation.mockRejectedValue(parseUrlError);
+      const response = await request(app)
+        .post('/analyze-location')
+        .send({ location: { type: 'url', target: 'not a url' } });
+      expect(response.status).toEqual(400);
+      expect(response.body.error.message).toMatch(
+        /The given location.target is not a URL/,
+      );
+    });
+  });
 });
 
 describe('createRouter readonly enabled', () => {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts
index 834e0953bb..4bfed783a6 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/createRouter.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import {
   stringifyEntityRef,
 } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import { Config } from '@backstage/config';
-import { NotFoundError, serializeError } from '@backstage/errors';
+import { InputError, NotFoundError, serializeError } from '@backstage/errors';
 import express from 'express';
 import { Logger } from 'winston';
 import yn from 'yn';
@@ -299,8 +299,19 @@ export async function createRouter(
         catalogFilename: z.string().optional(),
       });
       const parsedBody = schema.parse(body);
-      const output = await locationAnalyzer.analyzeLocation(parsedBody);
-      res.status(200).json(output);
+      try {
+        const output = await locationAnalyzer.analyzeLocation(parsedBody);
+        res.status(200).json(output);
+      } catch (err) {
+        if (
+          // Catch errors from parse-url library.
+          err.name === 'Error' &&
+          'subject_url' in err
+        ) {
+          throw new InputError('The given location.target is not a URL');
+        }
+        throw err;
+      }
     });
   }
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/util.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/util.ts
index 6ad53c9050..4b041d1a70 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/util.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/service/util.ts
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export async function requireRequestBody(req: Request): Promise<unknown> {
 export const locationInput = z
   .object({
     type: z.string(),
-    target: z.string().url(),
+    target: z.string(),
     presence: z.literal('required').or(z.literal('optional')).optional(),
   })
   .strict(); // no unknown keys;