Illustrations for your website

During the creation of the site, you will definitely need to fill it with ready-made images and look for photos and illustrations on the net. But in this case, you should be careful: for copyright infringement, you can get a lot of trouble, including getting a lawsuit. But there are ways to fill the site with illustrations without breaking the law and without resorting to the help of designers and photographers.

The best way is to go to free photo stocks where you can find thousands of images. But it is worth remembering that different stocks give different conditions for using the content posted on them. Therefore, before using the library, you must carefully study the rules of behavior.

Google image search

First of all, you need to understand that it is not recommended to use any images from search engines without additional actions or search filters. Search engines mostly just rank images, which can have completely different copyrights. Therefore, you will definitely have to look for the source of the image every time and check whether it can be used for the purposes you need.

Google's Advanced Image Search has a huge dropdown list of images with Usage Rights listed, so you'll have a lot of choices.

But the problem is that Google itself does not give any guarantees that you can actually use the images found for the purposes you need. The Usage Rights filter has the potential to provide out-of-date data. Therefore, it is always necessary to clarify this information on the site where the illustration is posted.

Free stock image libraries

Free stock libraries are very convenient to use, but they have their own conditions for working with content. However, one must take into account the fact that the library may make a mistake and the user may violate copyrights by posting a picture. This means that even if the site agreement allows you to use the illustrations for any purpose, there is no guarantee that the author himself did not initially violate the rights of third parties with his picture.

The model for working with photo stocks is quite simple: when uploading illustrations to such sites, the author agrees to their terms, as well as to the rules for uploading content, where he alienates non-exclusive rights to the content.

For example, by uploading an image to Pixabay, you grant Pixabay and its users the full right to use, download, copy, modify the content for any purpose, whether commercial or non-commercial.

Learn SEO Basics: Enroll Today!

Boost your website's visibility and traffic by mastering the fundamentals of SEO with our easy-to-follow Basics course.

Start Learning SEO

However, if the user who initially uploaded the picture violated someone's rights, then in the event of claims from the real author, you can get into an unpleasant situation. Therefore, you must be aware that downloading content from such sites is associated with a certain degree of risk.

Always look at the content of the image - if it depicts a well-known brand, product, frame from a movie, or any other similar copyrighted content, then it is better not to use such an illustration.

Paid photostock libraries

Paid photo stocks may not give a 100% guarantee that the author of the illustration has not violated anyone's rights. Some services immediately mention in their rules that in case of copyright infringement, they will remove illegal content and block the account of the one who uploaded it to the site. This means that there is still a small chance of stumbling across an infringing image before these measures are applied. Therefore, before deciding where to get pictures for the site, you should carefully read the rules and pay attention to who will be responsible for violating other people's rights.

Stock photo libraries to help you visually decorate your site:

• Pixabay,
  
• Unsplash,
  
• Gratisography,
  
• Pexels,
  
• StockSnap,
  
• SplitShire,
  
• ISO Republic,
  
• Kaboompics,
  
• Picography,
  
• FOCA Stock
  

Let's summarize

Remember that the best way to legally place illustrations and photographs on the site is to make them yourself or directly conclude a contract with the author of the works. But if you urgently need to fill the site, always pay attention to the rules for using images, so as not to violate copyright and not get problems.