Where image problems come from
Most missing or wrong images in a vehicle feed trace back to the photo column in the DMS export.
- Vehicles with no photo URLs at all while they wait for photography
- All photos packed into one cell with a separator the channel doesn’t expect
- A stock or placeholder image first, and the real photos behind it
- Different photo orders on different channels
One cover, one order, every channel
The photo you put first is photo_url, the cover. The rest, in your order, are photo_additional_urls, and all of them together are photo_urls, joined by the separator your channel wants. Map image_link to photo_url and additional_image_link to photo_additional_urls once, and every future photo change flows through.
Hold back cars that aren’t ready
Add a feed filter on photo_count so vehicles without photos stay out of your ads until they are shot, or keep them in with their DMS photos. Health checks flag image columns that come out blank before a channel sees them.
Common image fields and the photo field that fills them
| Channel field | How MiFeed fills it |
|---|---|
| image_link (Google) | photo_url — your cover photo |
| additional_image_link (Google) | photo_additional_urls — the rest, in order |
| Facebook catalog image fields | photo_url for the first image, photo_urls for all of them |
| ImageURLs / Photos (marketplaces) | photo_urls, joined with the separator the channel expects |