diff --git a/src/Simplesitemap.php b/src/Simplesitemap.php
index 0ca3ede..3a6148d 100644
--- a/src/Simplesitemap.php
+++ b/src/Simplesitemap.php
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ class Simplesitemap {
     $custom_links = $this->configFactory
       ->get('simple_sitemap.custom')
       ->get('links');
-    return $custom_links;
+    return $custom_links === NULL ? [] : $custom_links;
   }
 
   /**