diff --git a/google/config.go b/google/config.go
index 5d0da33..d854bd0 100644
--- a/google/config.go
+++ b/google/config.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 
 // Kind represents the name of the location/storage type.
 const Kind = "google"
+const Protocol = "gs"
 
 const (
 	// The service account json blob
diff --git a/google/container.go b/google/container.go
index f52f2d5..bad274c 100644
--- a/google/container.go
+++ b/google/container.go
@@ -150,10 +150,7 @@ func merge(metadata ...map[string]string) map[string]string {
 }
 
 func (c *Container) convertToStowItem(attr *storage.ObjectAttrs) (stow.Item, error) {
-	u, err := prepUrl(attr.MediaLink)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
+	u := prepUrl(attr)
 
 	mdParsed, err := parseMetadata(attr.Metadata)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/google/item.go b/google/item.go
index a6b7e94..6c3952e 100644
--- a/google/item.go
+++ b/google/item.go
@@ -75,15 +75,21 @@ func (i *Item) StorageObject() *storage.ObjectAttrs {
 	return i.object
 }
 
-// prepUrl takes a MediaLink string and returns a url
-func prepUrl(str string) (*url.URL, error) {
-	u, err := url.Parse(str)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+// prepUrl takes ObjectAttrs and returns a url constructed from the bucket and name.
+// We don't use attr.MediaLink because it is in the format
+// `google://storage.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/some-bucket/...` instead of
+// `gs://some-bucket/...`.
+// Otherwise, when using stow to list a bucket `gs://...`, the resulting objects
+// `google://storage.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/...` could not be found
+// using the same stow client.
+func prepUrl(attr *storage.ObjectAttrs) *url.URL {
+	u := url.URL{
+		Scheme: Protocol,
+		Host:   attr.Bucket,
+		Path:   attr.Name,
 	}
-	u.Scheme = "google"
 
 	// Discard the query string
 	u.RawQuery = ""
-	return u, nil
+	return &u
 }
diff --git a/google/location.go b/google/location.go
index 0497876..da3d13f 100644
--- a/google/location.go
+++ b/google/location.go
@@ -113,22 +113,34 @@ func (l *Location) RemoveContainer(id string) error {
 // ItemByURL retrieves a stow.Item by parsing the URL, in this
 // case an item is an object.
 func (l *Location) ItemByURL(url *url.URL) (stow.Item, error) {
-	if url.Scheme != Kind {
-		return nil, errors.New("not valid google storage URL")
-	}
+	if url.Scheme == Kind {
+		// Url in the form: google://storage.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/some-bucket
+		pieces := strings.SplitN(url.Path, "/", 8)
 
-	// /download/storage/v1/b/stowtesttoudhratik/o/a_first%2Fthe%20item
-	pieces := strings.SplitN(url.Path, "/", 8)
+		c, err := l.Container(pieces[5])
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, stow.ErrNotFound
+		}
 
-	c, err := l.Container(pieces[5])
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, stow.ErrNotFound
-	}
+		i, err := c.Item(pieces[7])
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, stow.ErrNotFound
+		}
+		return i, nil
 
-	i, err := c.Item(pieces[7])
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, stow.ErrNotFound
-	}
+	} else if url.Scheme == Protocol {
+		// Url in the form: gs://some-bucket
+		c, err := l.Container(url.Host)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, stow.ErrNotFound
+		}
 
-	return i, nil
+		i, err := c.Item(url.Path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, stow.ErrNotFound
+		}
+		return i, nil
+	} else {
+		return nil, errors.New("not valid google storage URL")
+	}
 }