Photography is essential in both print and online marketing, and it’s overwhelming to source a variety of photos for your website and all your social media posts, e-newsletters, and more.

Google Images is a library of beautiful photos, and the ease of “save image as” can be tempting. But there are many implications to using Google Images in your marketing, which I’m sharing in the post below, along with what to do instead.

Prefer to watch a video? Click the below!

Copyright Infringement

It’s not fair to photographer, models, and everyone involved in the creation of a photo to download without paying for it.

But aside from that, the photographer owns the rights to their photos and can take legal action on the unauthorized use of their work. While you may think it unlikely for a single photographer to take you to court, many of the photos on Google Images have been uploaded to stock photography sites like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, and Getty. These organizations have the means to pursue legal action- and will.

The internet is certainly vast, but that doesn’t mean these big organizations can’t find images used without permission. There are now sophisticated reverse search methods and backend code that points to improper use of photography.

And don’t assume that just because a photo doesn’t include “copyrighted” text that it’s free to use. Unless you download a photo from a free stock photography site or the photo is clearly marked that it’s free to use, don’t use it.

Attributing credit to the photographer, linking to where you found the photo, including a disclaimer that you do not own the photo, using a smaller version of the photo, only posting the photo to social media, etc. are not workarounds either.

Professionalism

Some photos saved from Google Images contain a watermark. A big one. One that covers the entire photo! Using these types of watermarked images is tacky not only because of the look, but because people obviously know that you ripped off the photo.

Quality

Not all photos that are uploaded to the internet are high quality, making it quite easy to download a low-resolution photo from Google Images. Using fuzzy, cropped, and small photos detracts from your marketing materials, and also tarnishes your professionalism.

What to do instead

Always use your own photos or download from a stock photography website. Stock photos are already created photos that are made available for license (use) by paying a fee to a stock agency, which then pays the photographer a portion.

However, there are ways to download stock photos for free.

Paid Stock Photo Websites
These sites have the widest variety of photos.
Adobe Stock
Canva*
Getty
Shutterstock

Free Stock Photo Websites
Canva*
Pexels
Unsplash

*Canva is a free, cloud based graphic design software that includes a built-in photo library. Many of their stock photos are free, and the rest are available to purchase or free for Canva Pro users.

To get started on Canva, check out my Create With Canva online course.

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