Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Technical SEO
    4. Can hotlinking images from multiple sites be bad for SEO?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Can hotlinking images from multiple sites be bad for SEO?

    Technical SEO
    7
    12
    5379
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • OptiBacUK
      OptiBacUK last edited by

      Hi,

      There's a very similar question already being discussed here, but it deals with hotlinking from a single site that is owned by the same person.

      I'm interested whether hotlinking images from multiple sites can be bad for SEO.

      The issue is that one of our bloggers has been hotlinking all the images he uses, sometimes there are 3 or 4 images per blog from different domains.

      We know that hotlinking is frowned upon, but can it affect us in the SERPs?

      Thanks,

      James

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • OptiBacUK
        OptiBacUK @TakeshiYoung last edited by

        Sorry, hotlinking was the wrong word to use, we're actually just embedding the images.

        Is it possible that Google recognises that spammy sites (as an example) tend to embed lots of images and therefore use it as an indicator of spam?

        Also, is poor netiquette ever taken into account? Again, maybe because Google is trying to find spammy sites?

        For the record, it is something we'll be fixing (especially from a copyright point of view), but we're trying to prioritise this. If there's a potential SEO impact, we'll sort it quick, if not, then we'll do more pressing things first.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • OptiBacUK
          OptiBacUK @TomRayner last edited by

          Okay, so hotlinking is the wrong terminology to use. Do you think embedding images is taken into account by Google?

          For example, would Google see spammy sites embedding lots of images, and therefore use it as an indicator of spam?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Alex-Harford
            Alex-Harford @irvingw last edited by

            That's confused me too! Embedding an image from another site is hotlinking. A href doesn't have anything to do with it.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • irvingw
              irvingw @TomRayner last edited by

              Excuse me, it's late in the day. Embedding is still referencing the sites image URL right?

              Also, what if the site changes the directory or something and all the images on your site now 404.

              Alex-Harford 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • djlaidler
                djlaidler last edited by

                Another thing to consider is that requesting images from multiple sites will create a lag in load times.  Most modern browsers will download multiple files in parallel from the one host. Multiple hosts will mean the page load will occur in series (not parallel) and this will create a slower load time.

                Hope this helps!

                Dan

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • TomRayner
                  TomRayner @OptiBacUK last edited by

                  Sorry, I assumed you meant you were hotlinking images, rather than just embedding them.  If you're just using tags with no <href> defined (so just embedding, not hotlinking), then you're right - this won't cause a problem.</href>

                  irvingw OptiBacUK 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • CreativeJar
                    CreativeJar last edited by

                    Create and host your own image or use a royalty-free image so you won't suffer from someone claiming copyright, this should be your biggest concern here.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • Alex-Harford
                      Alex-Harford @TakeshiYoung last edited by

                      Takeshi is right. Bandwidth can cost money, so there's that as well as the copyright theft. You could also fall victim to a 'switcheroo': http://www.deuceofclubs.com/switcheroo/index.html - I've done this myself before by adding a polite message asking someone not to hotlink.

                      Google don't include hotlinked images in Google News so it is something they may take into account when ranking a page in their general search.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • OptiBacUK
                        OptiBacUK @TomRayner last edited by

                        Surely that only works if it's an actual link, right? Simply using the tag shouldn't be regarded as a link by Google?

                        TomRayner 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • TakeshiYoung
                          TakeshiYoung last edited by

                          You are definitely missing out on image traffic by not hosting your own images. Plus, hotlinking is poor netiquette since you are using someone else's bandwidth without their permission. If the images are copyrighted, then you could be hit by DMCA requests which can negatively impact your SEO.

                          Alex-Harford OptiBacUK 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • TomRayner
                            TomRayner last edited by

                            Hi James

                            A lot of this will depend on the site you're linking to.

                            It's long been a part of the ranking algorithm that if you link to sites that are seen negatively by Google, due to spam/malware/etc, then your site may be viewed negatively itself.  Without knowing where your blogger has been linking from, it's hard to say - but it's worth running a check just in case.

                            OptiBacUK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • 1 / 1
                            • First post
                              Last post

                            Got a burning SEO question?

                            Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                            Start my free trial


                            Browse Questions

                            Explore more categories

                            • Moz Tools

                              Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                            • SEO Tactics

                              Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                            • Community

                              Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                            • Digital Marketing

                              Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                            • Research & Trends

                              Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                            • Support

                              Connect on product support and feature requests.

                            • See all categories

                            Related Questions

                            • MarketHubb

                              Help Setting Up 301 Redirects from Coldfusion Site to Wordpress Site.

                              I have created a new website and need to redirect all of the previous pages to the new one. The old website was built in coldfusion and the new site is built in wordpress. One of the pages I'm trying to redirect is www.norriseal.com/products.cfm to http://norrisealwellmark.com/products/. This is what I have in my .htaccess file <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">Options +FollowSymlinks
                              RewriteEngine On
                              RewriteBase /
                              Redirect 301 /products.cfm http://norrisealwellmark.com/products/</ifmodule> The result of this redirect is http://norrisealwellmark.com/products.cfm How do I prevent the .cfm from appending to the destination URL?

                              Technical SEO | | MarketHubb
                              1
                            • jsilapas

                              Word mentioned twice in URL? Bad for SEO?

                              Is a URL like the one below going to hurt SEO for this page? /healthcare-solutions/healthcare-identity-solutions/laboratory-management.html I like the match the URL and H1s as close as possible but in this case it looks a bit funky. /healthcare-solutions/healthcare-identity-solutions/laboratory-management.html

                              Technical SEO | | jsilapas
                              0
                            • renalynd27

                              One robots.txt file for multiple sites?

                              I have 2 sites hosted with Blue Host and was told to put the robots.txt in the root folder and just use the one robots.txt for both sites. Is this right? It seems wrong. I want to block certain things on one site. Thanks for the help, Rena

                              Technical SEO | | renalynd27
                              0
                            • pugh

                              Mobile site ranking instead of/as well as desktop site in desktop SERPS

                              I have just noticed that the mobile version of my site is sometimes ranking in the desktop serps either instead of as well as the desktop site. It is not something that I have noticed in the past as it doesn't happen with the keywords that I track, which are highly competitive. It is happening for results that include our brand name, e.g '[brand name][search term]'. The mobile site is served with mobile optimised content from another URL. e.g wwww.domain.com/productpage redirects to m.domain.com/productpage for mobile. Sometimes I am only seen the mobile URL in the desktop SERPS, other times I am seeing both the desktop and mobile URL for the same product. My understanding is that the mobile URL should not be ranking at all in desktop SERPS, could we be being penalised for either bad redirects or duplicate content? Any ideas as to how I could further diagnose and solve the problem if you do believe that it could be harming rankings?

                              Technical SEO | | pugh
                              0
                            • Justin45

                              Changing images on site without losing ranking

                              A number of images on my site rank very well under google image search but need to be replaced with updated versions. If I keep the file name and pixel dimensions identical will switching the image effect my rankings? Thanks!

                              Technical SEO | | Justin45
                              0
                            • nomad-202323

                              Can dynamically translated pages hurt a site?

                              Hi all...looking for some insight pls...i have a site we have worked very hard on to get ranked well and it is doing well in search. The site has about 1000 pages and climbing and has about 50 of those pages in translated pages and are static pages with unique urls. I have had no problems here with duplicate content and that sort of thing and all pages were manually translated so no translation issues. We have been looking at software that can dynamically translate the complete site into a handfull of languages...lets say about 5. My problem here is these pages get produced dynamically and i have concerns that google will take issue with this aswell as the huge sudden influx of new urls....as now we could be looking at and increase of 5000 new urls. (which usually triggers an alarm) My feeling is that it could be risking the stability of the site that we have worked so hard for and maybe just stick with the already translated static pages. I am sure the process could be fine but fear a manual inspection and a slap on the wrist for having dynamically created content?? and also just risk a review trigger period. These days it is hard to know what could get you in "trouble" and my gut says keep it simple and as is and dont shake it up?? Am i being overly concerned? Would love to here from others who have tried similar changes and also those who have not due to similar "fear" thanks

                              Technical SEO | | nomad-202323
                              0
                            • pauledwards

                              Image Size for SEO

                              Hi there I have a website which has some png images on pages, around 300kb - is this too much? How many kbs a page, to what extent do you know does Google care about page load speed? is every kb important, is there a limit? Any advice much appreciated.

                              Technical SEO | | pauledwards
                              0
                            • Weerdboil

                              Delete old site but redirect domain to a new domain and site

                              I just have a quick query and I have a feeling about what the answer is so just wanted to see what you guys thought... Basically I am working on a client site. This client has a few other websites that are divisions of their company. However these divisions/websites are no longer used. They are wanting to delete the websites but redirect the domains to their name main website. They believe this will pass on SEO benefits as these old division sites are old and have a good PR and history. I'm unsure for DEFINITE, which way is correct?

                              Technical SEO | | Weerdboil
                              0

                            Get started with Moz Pro!

                            Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                            Start my free trial
                            Products
                            • Moz Pro
                            • Moz Local
                            • Moz API
                            • Moz Data
                            • STAT
                            • Product Updates
                            Moz Solutions
                            • SMB Solutions
                            • Agency Solutions
                            • Enterprise Solutions
                            Free SEO Tools
                            • Domain Authority Checker
                            • Link Explorer
                            • Keyword Explorer
                            • Competitive Research
                            • Brand Authority Checker
                            • MozBar Extension
                            • MozCast
                            Resources
                            • Blog
                            • SEO Learning Center
                            • Help Hub
                            • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                            • How-to Guides
                            • Moz Academy
                            • API Docs
                            About Moz
                            • About
                            • Team
                            • Careers
                            • Contact
                            Why Moz
                            • Case Studies
                            • Testimonials
                            Get Involved
                            • Become an Affiliate
                            • MozCon
                            • Webinars
                            • Practical Marketer Series
                            • MozPod
                            Connect with us

                            Contact the Help team

                            Join our newsletter
                            Moz logo
                            © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                            • Accessibility
                            • Terms of Use
                            • Privacy

                            Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.