What is your take on using Google images for blogs

[qlkasdjfw]

In your opinion, do you think it is okay to use Google images for your blog posts as long as it credits or includes a link to the site in which you located it? We tried looking at stock art for some license-free photos and had no luck in coming up with good pictures. What rules or guidelines do you follow when looking for pictures for your customers blog (or your own)? A lot of our posts have to do with "what to do in this city" or "Where to go in this city". Do you think it's okay to use Google images for these types of posts?

[littlesthobo]

I just wanted to add my views.

I don't think there is such a thing as 'Google Images'.  Google is returning a search result of images that exist on peoples websites, with links through to those websites.  The purpose of those images is to drive people to those sites they are attached to, not to take directly from Google.

If your posts are along the lines of 'what to do in this city', you'd be better off approaching the people and asking if you can feature them on your site?  e.g. if one of the things you are suggesting is 'visit this theatre, or visit this restaurant, I'm sure the theatre and restaurant would be delighted to get a mention and willingly let you use their images.  You should link to their sites and they may well give you the benefit of linking back to you as you are featuring them as a 'good things to do when you are visiting x'.

The bottom line is always ask permission.  Chances are, if you are giving credit to the photographer, or the owner of the images (i.e. the restaurant, theatre etc), they will be happy to let you use them as you are promoting them.

You can get into some hot water by just taking them and it's not fair on the owner not to receive some credit for their work.

[AlanBleiweiss]

One source I forgot to mention - ThinkStock - a one-stop source for royalty free photos that come from Getty, Jupiter and iStock - we had an annual subscription there at the last agency I worked at.  For $200 a month we were able to download 750 photos a month - that's $3 a photo.  It was a superb way to build our own library of thousands of legally paid-for stock photos.

[EGOL]

do you think it is okay to use Google images for your blog posts as long as it credits or includes a link to the site in which you located it?

No.  It's not OK.  If you are using my images then what you are doing is theft.

Contact the owner and ask for permission.  That is easy to do.

Some will say yes, some will ask for a license fee.  Some will say no.

We tried looking at stock art for some license-free photos and had no luck in coming up with good pictures.

I have this same experience.  So, I purchased a very nice camera, professional lights, and have allowed employees lots of time to develop their skills.  We often spend $100 or more for the props to get one photo - and several hours of employee time to shoot, reshoot a reshoot to get what we want.

If you want to use the photo that I have spent that kind of time and money on then I am going to say "no" or ask for a fee to recover at least some of my costs.

How would you feel if you spent lots of time writing an article and somebody grabbed it and republished on their website and outranked you for your main keyword.   That is how I  feel when someone steals one of my photos.  My employees get mad about it too.

WE DID NOT CREATE THESE PHOTOS TO SUPPORT YOU OR YOUR CLIENTS.  We created them to build a unique and valuable website.

What rules or guidelines do you follow when looking for pictures for your customers blog (or your own)?

First I look for public domain photos on a .gov site that are available for free use.  I also use iStockphotos because they have lots of nice images.  Sometimes i find creative commons photos.  Or I see a photo on a website and offer them payment to use it.  I have offered $25 to $500 for use of photos.

If I can't get photos from the sources above we then travel, purchase props, hire an artist or take other steps to get the images that we need.

The cost of photo acquisition should be built into the fee that you are charging your client or into the content budget for your website.

[David_H]

Totally not a good idea to use photos from Google images. Most of them are subject to copyright and the penalties for infringement can be severe. We've had a digital photography business for the last ten years or so and people stealing images has been a nightmare. Really glad I'm winding that down these days.

Best is to use your own images and if this is not possible, as Alan mentioned use Creative Commons photos. They are all over the place - a big Commons section on Flikr for example. Make sure that you if you use any CC images, you stick to what the licence requires.

Some are licensed as non-commercial so you can use them on a personal blog but not a business one. Others are fine for business as long as you provide attibrution to the licence holder.

Personally, I think CC is the best way to go (I have several sites that are licensed CC) - you can read more on the licenses and the requirements at the link in Alan's response.

Edit - a quick thought, just this week we bought licenses for some images for a tradeshow backdrop at http://www.shutterstock.com/ Very reasonably priced and huge selection.

[AlanBleiweiss]

Google images pulls images from across the web, regardless of legality of re-use.  It's never a wise idea to assume that just because you found it in Google images that you can then reuse it.  My policy is if you don't purchase a photo from a stock photo site, the best source would be Creative Commons - uncheck the "user for commercial purposes" checkbox to search for possible photos to use.  Then, for each possible photo, check that specific photo's licensing info.

Unfortunately it's not a quick and easy process, and can be confusing, however it's important to the process of avoiding legal problems and becoming labeled as a site that disrespects photo copyright.