Image copyright and attribution for a website

Reusing an image you found on Google does not make it free to use. Every image has a copyright owner, and using one without the right permission exposes your site to takedown notices and, less often, legal claims. The practical fix is to know the licence attached to an image before you place it, and to record the permission so you can prove it later.

The licence types you will meet

Images reach a website under a few distinct rights models. Treat them as different categories, not shades of the same rule.

• All rights reserved. The default. You need explicit permission from the owner (usually paid, or by written agreement). A screenshot from someone else's product page is still their content even if you can view it.
• Royalty free. You pay once and use it in multiple projects, including commercial ones, but the licence has conditions. Read the terms: many stock libraries restrict how you change the image, who can use it, or how many copies print in merchandise.
• Rights managed. You pay per specific use (time period, print run, audience size). Broader use needs a new purchase. Common for editorial and press photos.
• Creative Commons. Free to reuse under stated conditions. The licence abbreviation names the conditions: BY (attribution required), SA (share alike), NC (non-commercial only), ND (no derivatives). Mixing NC with paid client work breaks the licence for that project.
• Public domain / CC0. Dedicated to the public with no copyright, or copyright expired. You can edit and use freely, but some "public domain" claims are wrong, so keep the source record anyway.

How to attribute correctly

Attribution is not a fixed phrase; it must identify who to credit and on what terms. A good caption block names the author, links to the original source, states the licence, and links to the licence text.

Photo by Ada Nkosi on Unsplash
Licence: Unsplash License (free to use)

Photo: Rijksmuseum, Public Domain
https://example.org/rijksmuseum

Place the credit near the image or in a linked credits page, but the licence conditions decide the minimum. When a site changes licence terms, keeping the record lets you re-attribute or swap the asset without panic.

Where to source images safely

• Use the search filter in Google Images to narrow results by usage rights, but treat the label as a starting point, not a guarantee.
• Pull from stock providers and CC 0 repositories where the licence is clearly stated and stable.
• For client or commercial sites, prefer paid royalty-free or rights-managed stock over free public results, because the licence covers you when the invoice is disputed.
• Generate your own images or commission them when the site needs unique visuals; then you own the whole chain and never depend on a third party.

Takedown and legal risk

A copyright owner can file a takedown request with your host or registrar, and a genuine dispute can cost more than the replacement image. The defense that "everyone does it" does not hold commercially. If you receive a takedown, remove the image immediately, confirm what licence you believed applied, and check your source record. If the use is genuinely licensed, a reasoned reply with the proof usually resolves it; if not, replace the asset and move on.

Record the permission

For every image, keep three facts in a file or spreadsheet: the URL where you obtained it, the exact licence name, and the date you checked it. This single record turns an ambiguous reuse into a defensible one and makes an annual licence audit fast. The building block for what an image genuinely needs on the page is the image SEO guide, and the format decisions that touch file handling are in the next-gen format guide.