It’s common practice that when a client wants to update their existing images for a product, they simply swap out what’s currently in place without updating the image URL in any way. The issue is that paid media vendors cache the images and don’t proactively crawl the URLs. Since the URL didn’t change, they have no way of knowing that the image hosted at that image URL location has been updated. They will then continue to serve the old image.
Vendors Cache Images
Due to the one-time crawl and cache, if a placeholder is being used, then that will be what gets stored for ad serving. The vendors will ultimately either disapprove the item due to the placeholder, or they will serve ads with the placeholder as the product image.
Because of this, placeholders should never be used for products whose data is being distributed to paid media platforms.
Update Image URLs
If an item is updated on the media server, the vendors need to know that this was done. The only trigger for them is an updated image URL. Otherwise, they’ll continue to serve ads with the old image.
There are two ways to adjust the image URL that will trigger a recache with the vendors.
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Update the path
Example:
https://exampleimage.com/product/image/v1https://exampleimage.com/product/image/v2
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Update the parameters
Example:
https://exampleimage.com/product/image?updated=04022025https://exampleimage.com/product/image?updated=06252026
Whenever a client updates the images for a product, they should either update the image path or append a parameter with a date stamp of when it was updated. If not, paid media vendors will continue to serve the old images.
Summary
When product images are updated, the image URL needs to change as well. Paid media vendors often cache images and may not recognize that the image file itself has changed. Updating the path or adding a date-stamped parameter helps trigger a recache and prevents old images from continuing to serve.
VersaFeed helps retailers manage product image URLs, feed attributes, and channel requirements across Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other paid media platforms. Contact us to keep product feed updates accurate, crawlable, and ready for ad delivery.