diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultCatalogProcessingEngine.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultCatalogProcessingEngine.ts
index e3828bdfd8..0ae20c94b1 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultCatalogProcessingEngine.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultCatalogProcessingEngine.ts
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ export class DefaultCatalogProcessingEngine implements CatalogProcessingEngine {
       },
       processTask: async item => {
         try {
-          const { id, state, unprocessedEntity, entityRef, emitKey } = item;
+          const { id, state, unprocessedEntity, entityRef, locationKey } = item;
           const result = await this.orchestrator.process({
             entity: unprocessedEntity,
             state,
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ export class DefaultCatalogProcessingEngine implements CatalogProcessingEngine {
               errors: errorsString,
               relations: result.relations,
               deferredEntities: result.deferredEntities,
-              emitKey,
+              locationKey,
             });
           });
 
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationService.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationService.ts
index ceb51a952e..70679a3bd6 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationService.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationService.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@ import {
   LOCATION_ANNOTATION,
   ORIGIN_LOCATION_ANNOTATION,
 } from '@backstage/catalog-model';
-import { CatalogProcessingOrchestrator } from './processing/types';
+import {
+  CatalogProcessingOrchestrator,
+  DeferredEntity,
+} from './processing/types';
 import { LocationService, LocationStore } from './types';
 import { locationSpecToMetadataName } from './util';
 
@@ -73,7 +76,9 @@ export class DefaultLocationService implements LocationService {
         target: spec.target,
       },
     };
-    const unprocessedEntities: Entity[] = [entity];
+    const unprocessedEntities: DeferredEntity[] = [
+      { entity, locationKey: `${spec.type}:${spec.target}` },
+    ];
     const entities: Entity[] = [];
     const state = new Map(); // ignored
     while (unprocessedEntities.length) {
@@ -82,11 +87,12 @@ export class DefaultLocationService implements LocationService {
         continue;
       }
       const processed = await this.orchestrator.process({
-        entity: currentEntity,
+        entity: currentEntity.entity,
         state,
       });
 
       if (processed.ok) {
+        // todo
         unprocessedEntities.push(...processed.deferredEntities);
         entities.push(processed.completedEntity);
       } else {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationStore.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationStore.ts
index 5c3cefbaf7..c9ffe9a682 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationStore.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/DefaultLocationStore.ts
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ export class DefaultLocationStore implements LocationStore, EntityProvider {
     const entity = locationSpecToLocationEntity(location);
     await this.connection.applyMutation({
       type: 'delta',
-      added: [{ entity, emitKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) }],
+      added: [{ entity, locationKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) }],
       removed: [],
     });
 
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ export class DefaultLocationStore implements LocationStore, EntityProvider {
     await this.connection.applyMutation({
       type: 'delta',
       added: [],
-      removed: [{ entity, emitKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) }],
+      removed: [{ entity, locationKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) }],
     });
   }
 
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ export class DefaultLocationStore implements LocationStore, EntityProvider {
 
     const entities = locations.map(location => {
       const entity = locationSpecToLocationEntity(location);
-      return { entity, emitKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) };
+      return { entity, locationKey: getEntityLocationRef(entity) };
     });
 
     await this.connection.applyMutation({
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts
index 5bdde1fe78..c2bfb4f633 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/DefaultProcessingDatabase.ts
@@ -64,18 +64,18 @@ export class DefaultProcessingDatabase implements ProcessingDatabase {
       errors,
       relations,
       deferredEntities,
-      emitKey,
+      locationKey,
     } = options;
     const refreshResult = await tx<DbRefreshStateRow>('refresh_state')
       .update({
         processed_entity: JSON.stringify(processedEntity),
         cache: JSON.stringify(state),
         errors,
-        emit_key: emitKey,
+        location_key: locationKey,
       })
       .where('entity_id', id)
-      .andWhere('emit_key', emitKey)
-      .orWhere('emit_key', '');
+      .andWhere('location_key', locationKey)
+      .orWhere('location_key', '');
     if (refreshResult === 0) {
       throw new NotFoundError(`Processing state not found for ${id}`);
     }
@@ -286,11 +286,11 @@ export class DefaultProcessingDatabase implements ProcessingDatabase {
 
     if (toAdd.length) {
       const state: Knex.DbRecord<DbRefreshStateRow>[] = toAdd.map(
-        ({ entity, emitKey }) => ({
+        ({ entity, locationKey }) => ({
           entity_id: uuid(),
           entity_ref: stringifyEntityRef(entity),
           unprocessed_entity: JSON.stringify(entity),
-          emit_key: emitKey,
+          location_key: locationKey,
           errors: '',
           next_update_at: tx.fn.now(),
           last_discovery_at: tx.fn.now(),
@@ -320,13 +320,13 @@ export class DefaultProcessingDatabase implements ProcessingDatabase {
     const tx = txOpaque as Knex.Transaction;
 
     const stateRows = options.entities.map(
-      ({ entity, emitKey }) =>
+      ({ entity, locationKey }) =>
         ({
           entity_id: uuid(),
           entity_ref: stringifyEntityRef(entity),
           unprocessed_entity: JSON.stringify(entity),
           errors: '',
-          emit_key: emitKey,
+          location_key: locationKey,
           next_update_at: tx.fn.now(),
           last_discovery_at: tx.fn.now(),
         } as Knex.DbRecord<DbRefreshStateRow>),
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ export class DefaultProcessingDatabase implements ProcessingDatabase {
               ? JSON.parse(i.cache)
               : new Map<string, JsonObject>(),
             errors: i.errors,
-            emitKey: i.emit_key,
+            locationKey: i.location_key,
           } as RefreshStateItem),
       ),
     };
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/tables.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/tables.ts
index a298c37022..395694131d 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/tables.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/tables.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export type DbRefreshStateRow = {
   next_update_at: string;
   last_discovery_at: string; // remove?
   errors?: string;
-  emit_key: string;
+  location_key?: string;
 };
 
 export type DbRefreshStateReferencesRow = {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/types.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/types.ts
index 5e4d0becd3..cd5d2a362d 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/database/types.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export type UpdateProcessedEntityOptions = {
   errors?: string;
   relations: EntityRelationSpec[];
   deferredEntities: DeferredEntity[];
-  emitKey: string;
+  locationKey?: string;
 };
 
 export type UpdateProcessedEntityErrorsOptions = {
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ export type RefreshStateItem = {
   lastDiscoveryAt: string; // remove?
   state: Map<string, JsonObject>;
   errors?: string;
-  emitKey: string;
+  locationKey?: string;
 };
 
 export type GetProcessableEntitiesResult = {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts
index fbb2744668..507def964a 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/ProcessorOutputCollector.ts
@@ -101,14 +101,14 @@ export class ProcessorOutputCollector {
         };
       }
 
-      this.deferredEntities.push({ entity, emitKey: location });
+      this.deferredEntities.push({ entity, locationKey: location });
     } else if (i.type === 'location') {
       const entity = locationSpecToLocationEntity(
         i.location,
         this.parentEntity,
       );
-      const emitKey = getEntityLocationRef(entity);
-      this.deferredEntities.push({ entity, emitKey });
+      const locationKey = getEntityLocationRef(entity);
+      this.deferredEntities.push({ entity, locationKey });
     } else if (i.type === 'relation') {
       this.relations.push(i.relation);
     } else if (i.type === 'error') {
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/types.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/types.ts
index b2a627943b..9e30d07404 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend/src/next/processing/types.ts
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ export interface CatalogProcessingOrchestrator {
 
 export type DeferredEntity = {
   entity: Entity;
-  emitKey: string;
+  locationKey?: string;
 };