diff --git a/aemedge/blocks/category/category.js b/aemedge/blocks/category/category.js
index e6274e38..3fdb6a88 100644
--- a/aemedge/blocks/category/category.js
+++ b/aemedge/blocks/category/category.js
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@ import {
   pathToTag,
 } from '../../scripts/utils.js';
 
-const LIMIT_100 = '100';
-
 // Create cardLarge images for 2 breakpoints
 export async function addCardImageLarge(row, style, eagerImage = true) {
   const cardImageDiv = createTag('div', { class: 'card-image' });
@@ -103,25 +101,23 @@ export default async function decorate(block) {
     lastSegmentOfURL = currentCategory;
   }
 
-  let limit = '';
-  // check if whatson homepage and add limit what we pull from query index for better performance
-  if (window.location.pathname === '/whatson' || window.location.pathname === '/whatson/') {
-    limit = LIMIT_100;
-  }
   let blogsbypaths;
-  if (paths.length >= 1) blogsbypaths = await getBlogsByPaths(paths, limit);
+  if (paths.length >= 1) blogsbypaths = await getBlogsByPaths(paths);
   let blogs;
   let mergedBlogs;
   if (blogsbypaths && (blogsbypaths.length > 0 && blogsbypaths.length < 8)) {
     numberofblogs -= blogsbypaths.length;
     // Get blogs
     if (numberofblogs > 0) {
-      blogs = await getBlogs(categories.map((cat) => pathToTag(cat)), numberofblogs, limit);
+      blogs = await getBlogs(categories.map((cat) => pathToTag(cat)), numberofblogs);
       mergedBlogs = [...blogs, ...blogsbypaths];
+    } else {
+      mergedBlogs = blogsbypaths;
     }
   } else {
-    mergedBlogs = await getBlogs(categories.map((cat) => pathToTag(cat)), numberofblogs, limit);
+    mergedBlogs = await getBlogs(categories.map((cat) => pathToTag(cat)), numberofblogs);
   }
+
   mergedBlogs.forEach(async (blog, i) => {
     if (blog.image === '') return;
     let card;
diff --git a/aemedge/scripts/utils.js b/aemedge/scripts/utils.js
index 23d4c7d8..371a5b1c 100644
--- a/aemedge/scripts/utils.js
+++ b/aemedge/scripts/utils.js
@@ -200,7 +200,8 @@ export async function fetchData(path) {
   const json = await response.json();
 
   return json.data.map((row) => {
-    if (row.image.startsWith('/default-meta-image.png')) {
+    const img = row.image;
+    if (typeof img === 'string' && img.startsWith('/default-meta-image.png')) {
       row.image = `/${window.hlx.codeBasePath}${row.image}`;
     }
     return row;
@@ -223,29 +224,38 @@ function compareArrays(arr, arr2) {
   return arr.every((i) => arr2.includes(i));
 }
 
+/**
+ * Returns true if the entry has a renderable blog image.
+ * Excludes missing, empty, '0', and default-meta-image to avoid underfill or runtime errors.
+ * @param {Object} entry - Query-index row
+ * @returns {boolean}
+ */
+function hasValidBlogImage(entry) {
+  return typeof entry.image === 'string'
+    && entry.image !== ''
+    && entry.image !== '0'
+    && !entry.image.includes('default-meta-image.png');
+}
+
+const QUERY_INDEX_PATH = '/whatson/query-index.json';
+
 /**
  * Retrieves blogs matching specific tags
  * @param {Array} categories - An array of categories to filter by
  * @param {number} num - The number of blogs to retrieve
- * @param {string} limit - The limit of blogs to retrieve from the query-index
  * @returns {Promise<Array>} - A promise resolving to the filtered blogs array
  */
-export async function getBlogs(categories, num, limit = '') {
+export async function getBlogs(categories, num) {
+  const isBlogsHome = (window.location.pathname === '/whatson' || window.location.pathname === '/whatson/');
   if (!window.allBlogs) {
-    window.allBlogs = await fetchData(`/whatson/query-index.json${limit ? `?limit=${limit}` : ''}`);
+    window.allBlogs = await fetchData(QUERY_INDEX_PATH);
   }
-  const isBlogsHome = (window.location.pathname === '/whatson' || window.location.pathname === '/whatson/');
   const blogArticles = isBlogsHome
     ? window.allBlogs.filter(
-      (e) => (e.template === 'blog-article'
-        && e.image !== ''
-        && !e.image.startsWith('//aemedge/default-meta-image.png')
-        && (e.hideFromHome !== 'yes')),
+      (e) => (e.template === 'blog-article' && hasValidBlogImage(e) && (e.hideFromHome !== 'yes')),
     )
     : window.allBlogs.filter(
-      (e) => (e.template === 'blog-article'
-        && e.image !== ''
-        && !e.image.startsWith('//aemedge/default-meta-image.png')),
+      (e) => (e.template === 'blog-article' && hasValidBlogImage(e)),
     );
 
   if ((categories && categories.length > 0)) {
@@ -265,12 +275,12 @@ export async function getBlogs(categories, num, limit = '') {
   return blogArticles;
 }
 
-export async function getBlogsByPaths(paths, limit = '') {
+export async function getBlogsByPaths(paths) {
   if (!window.allBlogs) {
-    window.allBlogs = await fetchData(`/whatson/query-index.json${limit ? `?limit=${limit}` : ''}`);
+    window.allBlogs = await fetchData(QUERY_INDEX_PATH);
   }
   const blogArticles = window.allBlogs.filter(
-    (e) => (e.template !== 'blog-category' && e.image !== '' && !e.image.startsWith('//aemedge/default-meta-image.png')),
+    (e) => (e.template !== 'blog-category' && hasValidBlogImage(e)),
   );
   let filterArticles = [];
   if (paths && paths.length > 0) {