diff --git a/.changeset/three-lies-explode.md b/.changeset/three-lies-explode.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..df3556d0ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/three-lies-explode.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-catalog-backend': patch
+---
+
+Fix bug in `getLocationByEntity`
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts
index 61eef2b8e5..dafd6e13d8 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.test.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,15 @@
  */
 
 import { TestDatabaseId, TestDatabases } from '@backstage/backend-test-utils';
+import { ANNOTATION_ORIGIN_LOCATION } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
 import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid';
 import { applyDatabaseMigrations } from '../../database/migrations';
+import {
+  DbFinalEntitiesRow,
+  DbLocationsRow,
+  DbRefreshStateRow,
+  DbSearchRow,
+} from '../../database/tables';
 import { DefaultLocationStore } from './DefaultLocationStore';
 
 jest.setTimeout(60_000);
@@ -30,7 +37,7 @@ describe('DefaultLocationStore', () => {
     const connection = { applyMutation: jest.fn(), refresh: jest.fn() };
     const store = new DefaultLocationStore(knex);
     await store.connect(connection);
-    return { store, connection };
+    return { store, connection, knex };
   }
 
   it.each(databases.eachSupportedId())(
@@ -172,4 +179,59 @@ describe('DefaultLocationStore', () => {
       },
     );
   });
+
+  describe('getLocationByEntity', () => {
+    it.each(databases.eachSupportedId())(
+      'loads correctly, %p',
+      async databaseId => {
+        const { store, knex } = await createLocationStore(databaseId);
+
+        const entityId = uuid();
+        const locationId = uuid();
+
+        await knex<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state').insert({
+          entity_id: entityId,
+          entity_ref: 'k:ns/n',
+          unprocessed_entity: '{}',
+          errors: '[]',
+          next_update_at: new Date(),
+          last_discovery_at: new Date(),
+        });
+
+        await knex<DbFinalEntitiesRow>('final_entities').insert({
+          entity_id: entityId,
+          final_entity: '{}',
+          hash: 'hash',
+          last_updated_at: new Date(),
+          stitch_ticket: '',
+        });
+
+        await knex<DbSearchRow>('search').insert({
+          entity_id: entityId,
+          key: `metadata.annotations.${ANNOTATION_ORIGIN_LOCATION}`,
+          value: `url:https://example.com`,
+        });
+
+        await knex<DbLocationsRow>('locations').insert({
+          id: locationId,
+          type: 'url',
+          target: 'https://example.com',
+        });
+
+        await expect(
+          store.getLocationByEntity({ kind: 'k', namespace: 'ns', name: 'n' }),
+        ).resolves.toEqual({
+          id: locationId,
+          type: 'url',
+          target: 'https://example.com',
+        });
+
+        await expect(
+          store.getLocationByEntity({ kind: 'k', namespace: 'ns', name: 'n2' }),
+        ).rejects.toMatchInlineSnapshot(
+          `[NotFoundError: found no entity for ref k:ns/n2]`,
+        );
+      },
+    );
+  });
 });
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.ts
index ac506051d2..fcf576b93e 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/modules/core/DefaultLocationStore.ts
@@ -124,41 +124,40 @@ export class DefaultLocationStore implements LocationStore, EntityProvider {
   async getLocationByEntity(entityRef: CompoundEntityRef): Promise<Location> {
     const entityRefString = stringifyEntityRef(entityRef);
 
-    const [entity] = await this.db<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state')
+    const [entityRow] = await this.db<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state')
       .where({ entity_ref: entityRefString })
       .select('entity_id')
       .limit(1);
-    if (!entity) {
+    if (!entityRow) {
       throw new NotFoundError(`found no entity for ref ${entityRefString}`);
     }
 
-    const [locationKeyValue] = await this.db<DbSearchRow>('search')
+    const [searchRow] = await this.db<DbSearchRow>('search')
       .where({
-        entity_id: entity.entity_id,
+        entity_id: entityRow.entity_id,
         key: `metadata.annotations.${ANNOTATION_ORIGIN_LOCATION}`,
       })
       .select('value')
       .limit(1);
-    if (!locationKeyValue) {
+    if (!searchRow?.value) {
       throw new NotFoundError(
         `found no origin annotation for ref ${entityRefString}`,
       );
     }
 
-    const { type, target } = parseLocationRef(entityRefString);
-    // const kind, target = split[0], split[1];
-    const [location] = await this.db<DbLocationsRow>('locations')
+    const { type, target } = parseLocationRef(searchRow.value);
+    const [locationRow] = await this.db<DbLocationsRow>('locations')
       .where({ type, target })
       .select()
       .limit(1);
 
-    // select * from locations where type = 'split(prev)[0]'
-    if (!location) {
+    if (!locationRow) {
       throw new NotFoundError(
         `Found no location with type ${type} and target ${target}`,
       );
     }
-    return location;
+
+    return locationRow;
   }
 
   private get connection(): EntityProviderConnection {